American Airlines, which had been planning to cut five flights a day from John Wayne Airport to the Bay Area , now says it will end all service to San Francisco and San Jose on Nov 19.
Tim Smith, an American spokesman, said the decision is part of a system-wide reduction in capacity that will take place in two phases.
On Aug. 25, three American Eagle flights from John Wayne to San Francisco and two to San Jose will be discontinued.
American will cancel its remaining service — five flights to San Jose and two to San Francisco — on Nov. 19, Smith said.
“We had good traffic (to the Bay Area) but it was not always profitable traffic,” Smith said. Service from John Wayne to Dallas/Ft. Worth and Chicago will continue, he said.
Jenny Wedge, a John Wayne spokeswoman, said the airport was notified last week about American’s plans to eliminate service to the Bay Area. She noted the airport currently has 46 flights a day to Bay Area airports, includingOakland Airport, which American doesn’t serve. The American cuts will leave John Wayne with 34 flights a day.
“I think we do have sufficient service to that area,” she said.
She said American Eagle is considered commuter service so the airport will have to see if there are other commuter carriers interested in picking up the slots American Eagle will be giving up.
Wedge noted Virgin America just began service to San Francisco from John Wayne in April . Southwest jumped in to match that service in May.
“When Virgin America came on board, it got us back to level ground,” Wedge said. “But we will see a decline in passenger levels in November.”
Air Canada was supposed to start John Wayne’s first international service this summer, but has yet to follow through. Wedge said one or two other airlines have expressed interest.
American’s decision to drop service between John Wayne and San Jose is a major turnaround from the dot-com days of the late ’90s when its so-called “nerd birds” were packed with people flying between the two tech hubs.
San Jose Airport spokesman David Vossbrink suggested to the San Jose Mercury-News that American may have fallen victim to fierce competition from Southwest Airlines.
Vossbrink noted Southwest also flies seven times a day to John Wayne from San Jose and that Southwest’s planes carry about three times as many passengers as American Eagle’s.
In other Virgin America news, the airline is launching direct flights from SFO to Ft. Lauderdale, but spokeswoman Abby Lunardini says the airline has no plans to offer direct service out of John Wayne.
Register Travel Editor Gary Warner contributed to this report.
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