Airline backs out of JWA berth offer

Paul Clinton

A Chicago-based discount airline has backed out of a bid to offer

flights out of Orange County, prompting airport managers to seek a

replacement carrier.

In a Tuesday letter, ATA Airlines declined an offer to set up shop

at John Wayne Airport.

“ATA plans to return the [flights] tentatively provided to us,”

Stan Hula, the airline’s vice president of planning, wrote in the

letter to John Wayne’s Access & Noise manager, Eric Freed. “We

appreciate the consideration given to ATA during this process and we

hope to be able to commence operations at a future date.”

The Board of Supervisors tentatively approved granting two new

flights to ATA and three to Frontier Airlines on June 3. The board

has scheduled a final vote for June 24.

In its letter, ATA said it was declining the flights because the

airport could not offer overnight slots for its planes.

The airport has already handed out all of its 30 “remain over

night,” or RON, slots.

After ATA’s decision, airport managers turned to Midwest Express,

a regional airline based in Milwaukee. Freed has tentatively offered

two daily flights to Midwest Express, which would fly to Kansas City.

“They’re the next carrier on the [waiting] list,” airport

spokeswoman Ann McCarley said.

Midwest Express, a niche carrier that has launched a retrenchment

of its operations, has not yet decided whether the Orange County

flights would be profitable.

“We’re still deciding whether to apply for the slots,” company

spokeswoman Carol Skornicka said. “If the economics of it work, we’d

love to serve Orange County.”

On Thursday, Midwest Express announced it was closing a Kansas

City call center, slashing food service on all flights and reducing

capacity by 12%. Earlier this year, the airline announced it would

eliminate 13% of its work force.

The company also said Thursday it may need “judicial assistance”

as it implements a restructuring plan designed to return it to

profitability.

Midwest Express was founded in the late 1970s as a subsidiary of

Kimberly-Clark Corp. The first flight left Milwaukee on June 11,

1984. The company offered public shares in 1995, which now trade on

the New York Stock Exchange.

If it flies out of John Wayne, Midwest Express would use the

newer, quieter Boeing 717 jets, which seat 88 passengers.

The Board of Supervisors would need to approve the airline and

Denver-based Frontier Airlines, which hopes to add three flights.

As a result of a modest expansion, the airport can now serve 10.3

million passengers annually; in 2011, that number would rise to 10.8

million. There are 85 daily flights at John Wayne.