Jul. 10--Fourteen months after introducing service as a branded airline, ExpressJet has announced it will suspend service Sept. 2.
The Houston-based airline's last passenger flights will be Sept. 1, with refunds issued to customers holding tickets for flights after that date.
"If we had any other choice, we would not take this difficult action," said Jim Ream, president and CEO, in a statement released Tuesday. "However, rising fuel prices has made the operation impossible to sustain."
ExpressJet introduced service to Monterey in May 2007, with 50-seater jets offering two daily round-trip flights between Monterey and Ontario and San Diego, adding service to Long Beach in November. In May, the company had announced plans to add a Sacramento route starting Aug. 23.
ExpressJet Airlines Inc. is a subsidiary of Houston-based ExpressJet Holdings. The company also operates ExpressJet Services LLC, which provides training and maintenance services to other airlines or aviation businesses, and a charter service. Before launching service as ExpressJet on April 2, 2007, the company had been flying for a decade as a regional jet service under the name Continental Express.
In the past 14 months, ExpressJet tried to carve out a niche as a convenient option for travelers who wanted to avoid major commercial airports, connecting smaller regional airports with short flights at lower costs than most major carriers. The airline's jets offered such amenities as leather seats, satellite
radio and valet service.
The airline will continue to fly under contract with Continental Airlines as a regional provider.
Monterey Peninsula Airport General Manager Tom Greer was in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday as part of a task force of airport executives discussing the impact of rising fuel prices on the nation's commercial airline service.
"ExpressJet is offering affordable and convenient air service to Southern California. This is a huge loss to our community," read a statement issued by Greer. "While it is disappointing, we continue our efforts to attract new air service. We have worked hard to attract new air service for Monterey County, but we are always vulnerable to losing it."
Airport spokeswoman Jennifer Hickerson said ExpressJet didn't release specific data for its Monterey routes, but she said the airline was doing good business in Monterey, averaging more than 70 percent occupancies, collectively, on those routes.
San Diego, in particular, had proven to be a popular travel route, and while the Ontario connection was drawing fewer travelers midweek, ExpressJet had planned to reintroduce a second daily flight to that city after initially scaling back to one per day.
For the first five months of the year, ExpressJet had a total of 10,489 passengers on its Monterey flights, said Hickerson.
The airport's total passenger count for that same time span was 171,314, including service on United, American, US Airways and Allegiant. Delta offered flights for one month of that time before suspending its Monterey-Salt Lake City flights, and Allegiant launched service on May 30 between Monterey and Las Vegas.
Hickerson said the financial impact of the loss is unknown, but said airport officials would likely keep trying to bring low-cost carriers to Monterey.
Dan Presser, owner of Four Winds Travel, said the loss of ExpressJet is bad news for Monterey County consumers.
"ExpressJet was our only really good alternative out of here," said Presser.
Round-trip flights to Southern California were generally priced well under $200, with one-way advance purchases often as low as $59 and $69. In comparison, a round-trip flight to Los Angeles on American can cost $383, he said.
"This is going to inflate the prices out of Monterey because they won't have the low-cost competition," said Presser. "This is not a good situation."
In May, ExpressJet had announced it would adjust routes after the summer travel season as part of a plan to emphasize shorter flights as a way to deal with rising fuel costs.
Those changes -- dropping nearly all long-haul flights in favor of shorter routes -- would have been implemented Aug. 23, scaling back flights by 30 percent with plans to re-evaluate scheduling in November.
Customers holding tickets for flights after Sept. 1 should contact ExpressJet Reservations at 888-958-9538 to request a refund.
Marie Vasari can be reached at 646-4478 or [email protected].
Online: www.expressjet.com or call 888-958-XJET (9538)
