Once again, AirCal focused on the competition and placed the
new 737-300s in service from Orange County and San Francisco
to both Portland and Seattle. Another major milestone for
AirCal came in June 1985 with a new daily scheduled service
from San Jose to Vancouver – its first passenger flight outside the
borders of the USA.Longer Legs
AirCal continued to spread its wings with a new service from
Seattle and Anchorage, Alaska with direct competition from
well established carriers Alaska and Western Airlines. However,
the highlight of 1986 was the commencement of flights from
its Orange County base to Chicago O’Hare. The new O’Hare
service was flown three times a day and was the only non-stop
service between Orange County and Chicago.Traffic in 1984 was up 12% from the previous year and
AirCal added five additional 737-200s from Aer Lingus,
Aloha and Western Airlines while waiting for its 737-300
deliveries. The year was therefore one of small profit but
huge investments.
Traffic also increased in 1984 due to a code sharing
partnership with Texas based Muse Air. The Muse Air
agreement helped to extend the AirCal presence to the desert
southwest and Texas market while Muse Air passengers could
now connect to AirCal’s west coast flights.
The first 737-300s were delivered to AirCal in February
1985 and immediately began replacing the MD-80 fleet. Most
of the MD-80s were returned to McDonnell Douglas Finance
by July and the remaining jets leased to direct competitor PSA
and Frontier Airlines.
The newly delivered
Boeing 737-300s were
used to replace the
MD-80s and provide
better fuel economy on
long distance routes.
They were quieter
than the MD-80s,
but still were still slot
restricted at Orange
County Airport.AirCal ordered the
MD-80 and MD-82
to increase capacity
and provide a quieter
noise footprint.
MD-82 N478AC is
shown f lying over
the Pacif ic with
the Orange County
coastline in the
background.http://www.airlinerworld.com 65