NO..PMD will not replace LAX and it is not supposed to.

YES..It can work

Yes..This is a regional solution.

NO James..We do not live all in trailers with blocks.

YES James..In PMD we have built, designed and flown some of the most brillant military aircraft in history…Sherman Oaks..I think the movie “Valley Girl” says it all.

YES James..With four high-tech companies, three AFB’s, AV’s growing community, Shoot James I’d be right proud to have anyone fly into our community. Why don’t you just moosey on down and see us some time!!

So James we’re really not picking on ya but please watch how y’all talk bout us folks..

YES..PMD Airport can work.

Try reading the above comments from Bobby and it only gets better from there.

When I flew out of PMD it took me 30 minutes to drive, parked in front of terminal walked two minutes to the terminal three minutes to check in and get thru security and when I returned it took me 10 minutes to wait for my bag, two minutes to get to my car, drive out of the parking lot without paying a dime and get home in 30 minutes.

The only reason I took the flight out of LAX was because it was booked for me by my company. I protested to them because I wanted to fly out of PMD but they said that they didnt want me to waste time with a layover in SFO and wanted me to fly non stop to be more productive.

The PMD flight I took six months earlier had an hour and a half layover in SFO before continuing on to YYC.

Where was the savings in productivity when you factored in the “aggravation and time wasted factor” I hope the PMD service stays. I fly constantly and have used PMD at least 20 times since the service started, even took it to London, what an easier way to fly international when you go into SFO on a connection than dealing with LAX and customs there. Dont look at price and closeness to your final destination as the sole factor, if you think LAX is close to disney just think of waiting that long for your bags and shuttle bus and getting aggravated when you could be taking a scenic and relaxing drive down the 14 or across the pearblossom to the cajon pass and enjoy the scenery in the same amount of time.

There is enough local demand for air service at Palmdale Airport. There have been several marketing studies conducted on the Palmdale Airport market. San Francisco, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Sacramento, Salt Lake City and Dallas all scored highly. It was the 2001 TriStar Marketing report on Palmdale Airport that served as the basis as my business plan for Air Palmdale.

The current problem with Palmdale is not to force people up the 14 Freeway, but to keep the passengers in the Palmdale Airport area to use PMD for their next flight. Losing passengers from the home airport is known as “leakage.” San Francisco offers many excellent national and international connecting flights. The fares out of Palmdale have been as competitive or more competitive than LAX or Burbank. United Airlines is being subsidized by a U.S. Department of Transportation grant and the “Wheels Up Palmdale” coalition of Los Angeles World Airports, the County of Los Angeles, the City of Palmdale and a number of commerce and trade groups in the Antelope Valley.

There needs to be a heavier saturation of advertising for United’s Palmdale service.

But the idea that Palmdale will be a major alternative to LAX is laughable.

I feel the growth and expansion should be EQUAL to and END with the demand that’s IN THE AREA. Not try and force the enormous population north of the 10 freeway to funnel up the 14 to fly PMD. Isn’t that a fairly logical statement?

p.s. while I lack the gusto for the high desert that Huell Howser might have, I do have a print of David Hockney’s “Pearblossom Highway” in my dining room – so I get a little taste of the valley every day :)

The switch to turboprops and increase in frequency will help in attracting more passengers. Passengers want convenience. The additional flights will help with inbound connections to PMD which have required long layovers in San Francisco.

The United Airlines flights are now on the GSA schedule which means more government workers can go on the PMD-SFO flights. Keep in mind that there are several government installations in the Antelope Valley that have a frequent need for air service- Edwards Air Force Base (second largest in the USA), NASA Dryden Research Center (now at PMD Airport/Air Force Plant 42), Air Force Plant 42, FAA Los Angeles Center at PMD, China Lake Naval Weapons Center, etc. There are also large companies with major employment centers in the area including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, US Borax, US Pole, Delta Scientific, Rite Aid, Michael’s, Sensor Systems, Huyndai Motors, Honda and the list goes on.

United and Los Angeles World Airports could do a better job in promoting the air service. They certainly have the money to do it.

Please visit Palmdale- it is not a bunch of trailers on blocks. The Antelope Valley has become a vibrant community with modern housing, extensive recreational opportunities and many shopping options including a Trader Joe’s. The U.S. Soccer Center is located in Lancaster. Mojave has the nation’s only non-NASA operated spaceport. Drive up the hill. You might be impressed with what you see!

Should PMD ever become a mega-airport it could then channel in residents from the Inland Empire and Apple Valley via that route.

All the major examples I can think of are products of government regulation forcing people to hike out of town. The two biggest examples (in my opinion), LGW and NRT, are slowly being marginalized because nobody wants to hike out that far to catch their flight. Witness all the network carriers migrating over to LHR and the re-internationalization of HND, SHA, GMP, etc.

The only “far-out airport” which doesn’t totally suck (in my experience) is KIX. I find it (a) nicer than ITM, as it was designed by world-class architects, and (b) more convenient than ITM, as they designed it to smoothly interface with the railway network in Osaka. It’s sort of like comparing LGA and JFK: one is technically much closer, but feels farther if you’re trying to use public transit.

Anyway, PMD could be a successful mega-airport if they made it intermodal (copy the Shanghai maglev?), built a really kickin’ terminal with HKG-style lounge facilities, and handed out real incentives for network carriers (perhaps on an alliance-by-alliance basis) to move all their operations there instead of LAX. This would take a metric buttload of investment, though, and it would naturally run the risk of being the next Mirabel.

And I guess it begs the question: what’s wrong with LAX in the first place? (By this, I mean: What’s wrong that some terminal renovation and attitude adjustments couldn’t fix?)

I live 5 miles from SFO (= one stop on the SamTrans express bus). There’s a long bridge between me and OAK, with lots of potential for nasty traffic. This pretty much limits my “LUV” for Southwest at the moment. I do hope they increase their SFO presence and offer flights to ONT, so UA gets some competition on that route.