Company Moving Up Plans For Transition To Single Aircraft Type Fleet

Yet another airline is making significant changes to its operations to adjust for rising fuel prices. Horizon Air announced a number of changes to routes and fleet Friday in the hope of combating rising costs.

The airline had previously announced its plans to transition to a single fleet flying 76-seat Bombardier Q400 aircraft. The move would phase out its current operations with the 37-seat Bombardier Q200 turboprops and the 70-seat Bombardier CRJ-700 Regional Jet. Originally slated for a target date of April 2009, the airline has moved up the timetable to replace the Q200 completely by October 28, 2008. The transition to a single Q400 fleet will be complete by the end 2009 according to company statements.

Horizon announced many changes to routes impacting cities in the Northwestern and Western U.S. to accommodate the fleet shuffle. As a result, some markets will see reduced flights and others will have new service added. All schedule changes are expected to appear in the Horizon Air reservation system by July 5, 2008.

An Essential Air Service contract held by Horizon Air to provide service to the Pendleton, OR market is currently in negotiation with the U.S. Department of Transportation. Currently Horizon provides three daily flights to Portland, OR with Q200 equipment, two of which are subsidized by the EAS program. Horizon proposes a new service with larger Q400 aircraft providing two daily flights to Seattle, WA in its place beginning October 28. The proposal is awaiting a decision from the DOT.

Horizon Air also announced it will be discontinuing service to Klamath Falls, OR and North Bend/Coos Bay, OR as of October 11 due to lack of profitability of the routes.

“Despite our best efforts to adjust flight schedules and fares in order to make these routes financially viable, consistent profitability has proved to be elusive,” said Dan Russo, Horizon’s vice president of marketing and communications. “The astronomically high fuel prices have only made the situation worse, and so we find ourselves with no choice but to reduce our losses by taking this action.”

FMI: www.horizonair.com