=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/n/a/2009/03/03/state/n015= 724S80.DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, March 3, 2009 (AP) Struggling airport may not reopen for years (03-03) 01:57 PST Palmdale, CA (AP) -- A struggling regional airport that closed last month won't reopen for years, if not decades, unless the airlines industry can recover from the current recession, according to a new report by the Los Angeles airport authority. Palmdale airport, located about 60 miles north of Los Angeles, was shuttered in February after United Airlines canceled its four daily flights to San Francisco. During 18 months of operations, the carrier's planes were less than a third full, well below the hoped level of 50 percent, officials said. "Certain conditions need to return for Palmdale to be deemed viable," sa= id Mike Molina, a spokesman for Los Angeles World Airports, which operates the small facility. "We are certainly not giving up on Palmdale, but the question remains: When will service resume?" The report about the airport was presented Monday to the Board of Airport Commissioners, which sets policy for Los Angeles World Airports, the agency that also operates Los Angeles International Airport, Ontario International Airport and Van Nuys Airport. United was the eighth airline to have flown into Palmdale since the early 1970s, when the Los Angeles airport department began buying vacant land for an intercontinental jet port that was never built. Four factors were cited for the airport's problems. Among them — long drives for travelers, a limited flight schedule and the economic downturn. "We believe there may be a market out there," Palmdale Mayor James Ledfo= rd said. "We hope that Los Angeles World Airports would support us in our effort to find one." ------------------------------------------------------= ---------------- Copyright 2009 AP <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> If you wish to unsubscribe from the AIRLINE List, please send an E-mail to: "listserv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx". Within the body of the text, only write the following:"SIGNOFF AIRLINE".