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Monday, Mar 18, 2024

New Route to Las Vegas From Burbank Airport

Spirit Airlines will begin service in June between Hollywood Burbank Airport and McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. The three-times-a-day flights will use Airbus twin-engine jet airliners to and from the San Fernando Valley’s only commercial airfield. Flights start June 20. John Kirby, vice president of network planning for Spirit, in Miramar, Fla., said the carrier looks for markets that are over-priced and ones where it can stimulate demand and fill its planes. “We feel we create our own market as opposed to taking passengers away from other carriers,” Kirby added. Spirit will join six other airlines at Hollywood Burbank, including Southwest, United and American. It is the first new airline at the airport in less than two years. The last new commercial airline to fly out of Hollywood Burbank was Mokulele Airlines starting in October 2017 but those flights to the Central Coast only lasted a couple of months. Prior to that, the newest commercial service was from SeaPort Airlines Inc., whose service lasted from 2013 to January 2016. Last year, the Valley airport served more than 5.3 million passengers, an 11 percent increase from 2017. Spirit also flies from Los Angeles International Airport. One of the attractions for Spirt to fly out of Burbank is that it is not only the lowest cost airport in the Los Angeles basin based on cost per enplaned passenger but is one of the cheapest airports in the United States. “We like that as a low-cost carrier,” Kirby explained. Spirit is the second largest carrier at McCarran Airport in Las Vegas. The city is a hub for Spirit, and once there, Burbank passengers can make connecting flights to the lower 48 U.S. states as well as the Caribbean, Mexico and Latin America. Hollywood Burbank Executive Director Frank Miller said he was pleased Spirit picked the airport to expand it growing network. “Knowing how popular Las Vegas is, and that Hollywood Burbank Airport is becoming an increasingly attractive Southern California gateway, we welcome Spirt airlines,” Miller said in a statement. If the route between Burbank and Vegas proves to be successful, Spirit will look at other cities it can fly to from the airport. “We want to make sure we get this one right first,” Kirby said. Jet’s Expansion Financing Jet Edge International raised $60 million in an investment round led by Solace Capital Partners, a Los Angeles private equity firm. The Van Nuys aircraft charter and management company will use the money, a combination of equity and debt, to fund it growth by building infrastructure in existing and new markets and by offering value-added services to its aircraft owners and charter clients. Jet Edge Chief Executive Bill Papariella called the partnership between the aviation firm and Solace Capital a continuation of its commitment to offer clients the highest levels of service and safety. “With a strong position in key markets including Southern California, Florida and the New York metropolitan area, we are excited to continue to build our footprint and portfolio of services for our customers and are thrilled that Solace Capital supports our vision of becoming a global force in the industry,” Papariella said in a statement. Jet Edge manages a fleet of more than 50 large-cabin and super-midsize aircraft, including models from Gulfstream, Bombardier, Dassault and Embraer. The firm moved last year into its new Van Nuys headquarters, complete with two hangars and office space, and recently added 40,000 square feet of hangar space at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. Solace Capital invests in lower-middle market companies in the U.S. and Canada. The firm has approximately $640 million of assets under management. “Jet Edge is a market leader in private aviation and is well-positioned within the fastest-growing segments of the industry,” said Christopher Brothers, managing partner at Solace Capital, in a statement. “We are pleased to support the company through its next phase of growth.” Palmdale Plant’s Award Northrop Grumman Corp.’s Aircraft Integration Center of Excellence in Palmdale has been named the 2019 Quality Plant of the Year by Quality Magazine. The center in the Antelope Valley is where Northrop, headquartered in Falls Church, Va., builds its Global Hawk drone, the center fuselage for the F-35 Lightning II and does maintenance on the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber. Quality Magazine’s criteria that includes the use of world-class technology, equipment, services and techniques to reduce scrap, rework, warranty or manufacturing costs; improve productivity or cycle time; and increase capacity. Staff Reporter Mark R. Madler can be reached at (818) 316-3126 or [email protected].

Mark Madler
Mark Madler
Mark R. Madler covers aviation & aerospace, manufacturing, technology, automotive & transportation, media & entertainment and the Antelope Valley. He joined the company in February 2006. Madler previously worked as a reporter for the Burbank Leader. Before that, he was a reporter for the City News Bureau of Chicago and several daily newspapers in the suburban Chicago area. He has a bachelor’s of science degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

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