JWA may see 2 new airlines

Two new commuter airlines have solidified schedules to begin

round-trip flights from John Wayne Airport to Phoenix, San Francisco and

Los Angeles.

Orange County supervisors are scheduled to approve the applications of

Mesa Air Group Inc. and American Eagle Airlines, the commuter division of

American Airlines, to begin operations at John Wayne Airport.

The requests have been placed on Tuesday’s agenda as a

noncontroversial consent item.

Mesa, operating under a partnership agreement with America West

Airlines, is scheduled to begin flights to Phoenix on Wednesday. The

airline would fly six round-trip flights per week for the first 45 days

and could add up to 20 more flights by March 31.

Mesa’s flights would be operated by the airline’s personnel, but the

planes would be supplied by America West. Airport managers are shifting

some flight capacity from America West to Mesa.

America West handed over space for 81,680 passengers per year to Mesa,

which is based in Arizona. Mesa has scheduled its first flight on

Wednesday, an airport spokesman said.

American Eagle has scheduled flights to begin July 2. The American

subsidiary will fly 41 weekly round trips to the Bay Area and seven

weekly trips to Los Angeles.

American has handed over slots for 117,718 passengers per year to

America Eagle.