In an effort to meet the public demand, Meadows Field Airport, in conjunction with ExpressJet, have added nonstop flights between Bakersfield and Sacramento. These flights began service Sept. 10.
The Sacramento flight departs at 7 a.m. from the William M. Thomas Terminal and returns at 7:37 p.m.
“Surprisingly, that flight is a lot for government services,” said Teresa Hitchcock, analysis and marketing manager for Kern County Airports. “We have the county, the city, the Kern County Superintendent of Schools, the Kern Community College District, all of the water agencies, then you have the political component.”
Earlier this month SkyWest Airlines announced nonstop flights to Mile High City, Denver. The flight to Denver connects Bakersfield to United and United Express’ “worldwide route network” with over 1,300 “departures from the Denver hub,” said SkyWest Airlines’ Vice President Mike Thompson in a press release.
“Denver started oversold. They were oversold for their very first flight,” said Hitchcock. “They were oversold for the entire week of their first week of service. They are doing exceptionally well with that flight.”
But, according to Hitchcock, the ExpressJet flight to Sacramento was not as successful, “Sacramento started a little slow but I think that’s because they didn’t announce and get it into the system early enough.” However, she said that she was told by the staff at ExpressJet that the Sacramento flight is picking up rapidly. “The numbers are going up very quickly,” said Hitchcock.
In May, ExpressJet added direct flights to San Diego. “We intend to deliver our customers more convenience and more service in growing cities like Bakersfield with populations that are the right size for our 50-seat aircraft,” said ExpressJet President and CEO Jim Ream in a press release.
Hitchcock also hopes to get back the direct flights to Houston that Meadows Field previously offered. “That’s going to be our next push, is to have Continental come in with mainline service,” said Hitchcock. “But that’s a difficult sale. That’s not an easy task to get them to commit to.”
While the William M. Thomas Terminal services domestic flights, the old terminal (built in 1957) now serves as the International Terminal with Mexicana Airlines currently operating there. Mexicana Airlines began service with direct flights to Guadalajara March 29.
“International service brought a lot of opportunities that weren’t available to the airport before . . . That also opened up the possibility of air cargo at this airport,” said Hitchcock. “And were going to the board of supervisors with an air cargo contract some time in the next month, to build an air cargo facility down next to the International Terminal.”
Bakersfield may also be seeing more international flights in the future. Hitchcock said, “We are looking at some other carriers.” Hitchcock has been talking to a Canadian carrier called WestJet about “potentially serving Calgary because of our oil ties here. There are a lot of people there who look for Southern California opportunities to get out of the snow in the winter.”
Hitchcock cautions that acquiring any new carrier and flight is difficult. “You have to have enough passengers in order to support this service. Like any business they need enough clients to make it viable for them.”