Horizon Air will discontinue its direct service from Redmond to Los Angeles International Airport in late August.As David Nogueras reports, the route was popular with business and leisure travelers in the Bend area.Horizon began to offer direct flights to LAX four years ago. Back then, the housing market in Central Oregon was flying high. Horizon saw a lot of potential in shuttling business and leisure travelers to and from Southern California. But the route never quite took off. Horizon tried combining the route with flights originating in Medford and Eugene. Two years ago, they cut back to just one flight a day.
Dan Russo: We tried a lot of different remedies to try to find the secret sauce that was going to make it a profitable route on a year round basis and pulling the service is the last resort.That’s Dan Russo, Vice President of Marketing at Horizon Air. He says the route has never turned a profit for the airline in the four years it’s been up and running.Passengers in Central Oregon can still fly to Los Angeles on Horizon Air through connecting flights in Portland and Seattle.