Air L.A. (IATA: UE, ICAO: UED), a wholly owned subsidiary of Air L.A. Inc (

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

: AILA) was a U.S.

commuter airline A regional airline is a general classification of airline which typically operates scheduled passenger air service, using regional aircraft, between communities lacking sufficient demand or infrastructure to attract mainline flights. In North ...

headquartered in the

Westchester Westchester most commonly refers to Westchester County, New York, immediately north of New York City. __NOTOC__ It may also refer to: Geography Canada *Westchester Station, Nova Scotia, Canada United States *Town of Westchester, the original seat ...

area of Los Angeles, California. It was founded by Wayne Schoenfeld, Ken Dickey and Bill Wolf. It ceased all operations in September 1995.

1980s

Air LA started life as a charter airline in the late 1970s. It first started scheduled operations using Piper Chieftain aircraft in May 1982. It served Blythe,

Burbank Burbank may refer to: Places Australia * Burbank, Queensland, a suburb in Brisbane United States * Burbank, California, a city in Los Angeles County * Burbank, Santa Clara County, California, a census-designated place * Burbank, Illinois, ...

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...

and Las Vegas. It gradually expanded its network to take in

Bermuda Dunes Bermuda Dunes is a census-designated place (CDP) in Riverside County, California. The population was 7,282 at the 2010 census. Bermuda Dunes is located near Indio and east of Palm Springs. The community's former name was ''Myoma''. The Bermuda Du ...

/ Palm Desert, Bullhead City (AZ)/ Laughlin (NV), Ontario (CA) and Las Vegas and by the late 1980s was operating British Aerospace

BAe Jetstream 31 The British Aerospace Jetstream is a small twin-turboprop airliner, with a pressurised fuselage, developed as the ''Jetstream 31'' from the earlier Handley Page Jetstream. A larger version of the Jetstream was also manufactured, the British A ...

commuter propjets.

1990s

In November 1990, Air L.A. added Mexico service through the acquisition of Air Resorts, another southern California-based commuter airline. In April 1993, it had the distinction of entering into one of the first international codeshare agreements with Aeromexico. The relationship began initially on the Los Angeles to Tijuana route and expanded to another of other Mexican cities primarily out of Tijuana and Hermosillo. The airline bought Conquest Airlines in 1995. In early 1995 Air L.A. also bought St. Paul, MN based Capitol Air (Not to be confused with the

Capitol Air Capitol Air was a charter airline in the United States which was operational from 1946 to its bankruptcy filing on November 23, 1984. It was founded as Capitol Airways in 1946, and then renamed Capitol International Airways in 1967. In 1981, the ...

that operated jets, the Saint Paul-based Capitol Air was a small commuter that served primarily Chicago Midway and Milwaukee from the St. Paul Downtown airport between mid-December 1993 and December 31, 1994). In 1993, the airline operated a fleet of

Fairchild Swearingen Metroliners The Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner (previously the Swearingen Metro and later Fairchild Aerospace Metro) is a 19-seat, Cabin pressurization, pressurized, twin-turboprop airliner first produced by Sino Swearingen Aircraft Corporation, Swearingen ...

, seating 19 passengers. It served the following California cities: Los Angeles, San Diego, Ontario,

Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

, Fresno,

Stockton Stockton may refer to: Places Australia * Stockton, New South Wales * Stockton, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region New Zealand *Stockton, New Zealand United Kingdom *Stockton, Cheshire *Stockton, Norfolk *Stockton, Chirbu ...

and Monterey. In Arizona, it served Phoenix. In Nevada, it served Las Vegas. The airline also served two states in Mexico. In Baja California, it served Tijuana, Ensenada, Mexicali and San Felipe. In

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is d ...

, it served Hermosillo.

Destinations in 1989

Air LA was serving the following destinations in 1989 with scheduled passenger flights operated with British Aerospace

turboprop aircraft: *

Bullhead City, AZ Bullhead City is a city located on the Colorado River in Mohave County, Arizona, United States, south of Las Vegas, Nevada, and directly across the Colorado River from Laughlin, Nevada, whose casinos and ancillary services supply much of the em ...

(BHC) * Grand Canyon National Park Airport, AZ (GCN) * Las Vegas, NV (LAS) * Ontario, CA (ONT) *

Palm Desert, CA Palm Desert is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, in the Coachella Valley, approximately east of Palm Springs, northeast of San Diego and east of Los Angeles. The population was 48,445 at the 2010 census. The city has been ...

(UDD) - ''served via

Bermuda Dunes Airport Bermuda Dunes Airport is a public use airport located in Bermuda Dunes, a town 13 nautical miles (15 mi, 24 km) east of the central business district of Palm Springs, a city in the Coachella Valley of Riverside County, Californi ...

Destinations in 1995

Air LA was serving the following destinations in 1995 with scheduled passenger flights operated with Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner turboprop aircraft: * Bakersfield, CA (BFL) * Fresno, CA (FAT) * Hermosillo, Mexico (HMO) * Las Vegas, NV (LAS) * Los Angeles, CA ( LAX) * Phoenix, AZ (PHX) *

Stockton, CA Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. Stockton was founded by Carlos Maria Weber in 1849 after he acquired Rancho Campo de los Franceses. The city is named after Ro ...

(SCK) * Tijuana, Mexico (TIJ)

Fleet

Air LA operated the following aircraft types during its existence: * British Aerospace

* Cessna 402 * Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante * Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner * Piper Chieftain

References

External links

* http://www.alacrastore.com/mergers-acquisitions/Air_LA_Inc-2539578 * http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Airlines+merger+allows+Air+L.A.+Inc.+to+start+new+Mexico+service.-a09061122 * http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-9061122.html * http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-16682392.html * http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1995_Feb_10/ai_16438119/ * https://web.archive.org/web/20110707095538/http://www.airlineinfo.com/Sites/DailyAirline/web-content/1991orders/910101.pdf * https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/reference/codes/aircarrier/ac2.txt * https://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/13/business/executive-changes-346495.html * http://www.airtimes.com/cgat/usa/airla.htm * http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/ue.htm * http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-10596205_ITM {{Airlines of the United States, state=collapsed Defunct airlines of the United States Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles Airlines based in California