HavasuJim's Blog

I guess it is time once again to argue over airline service in Havasu. We’ve been down this road before and it never worked out. In the 1980’s, Hughes Air West was here with flights to L.A. and Laughlin. Yes, Laughlin. From what I remember they came close to breaking even on these flights. McCulloch Corp. subsidized them and got free seats for their people going to L.A. The flights to Laughlin were pretty popular too. For a $20 round trip ticket you got a coupon for a free dinner at the sponsoring casino. Heck of a deal. But then the Arabs shut off the oil and they had to suspend the service. Before that there was Havasu Airlines. Their service was pretty much hit and miss. If they didn’t have enough passengers, they just cancelled the flight. The end came when a flight from Phoenix ran out of gas south of town. The skilled pilot was able to glide into a safe landing at the airport on the Island. Had the airport been at it’s present location they would not have made it. The argument for air service is that we need it and the government will heavily subsidize it so what the heck. That’s our money, run thru the federal mill and handed out to support stuff that can’t support itself. Air service to Las Vegas and L.A. might be handy for those flying elsewhere from those airports. Unless of course you have to spend the night waiting for an early morning flight. Even when air service was available most folks chose to drive anyway. I say that if it was economically feasible there would be air service here. Apparently, it is not. I don’t want my tax dollars spent to support a losing proposition