WinAir Airlines, a small Salt Lake City-based discount air carrier with five daily Las Vegas flights, today is folding operations and going out of business.
The airline used Long Beach, Calif., as its hub of operations and Las Vegas was its most popular destination with five of its 14 daily flights being roundtrips between Long Beach and McCarran International Airport.
The airline had a growing following among Las Vegas customers, serving 64,930 passengers in 1999, up from 29,944 in the last five months of 1998.
But that was not enough to stem a tide of debt that had developed.
"We ran out of financial fuel," said Richard Winwood, the airline's founder and a co-founder of what is now Franklin Covey Co., which produces the Franklin Day Planner.
Winwood said the company's startup costs were significantly higher than expected. WinAir lost more than $15 million, he said. A deal to raise additional money from an investor group collapsed on Tuesday, leading to the decision to cease operations today.
WinAir started as a charter airline called WinWest Shuttle in June 1998 and began offering commercial flights in November. At its peak, it employed 500 people and offered flights from Long Beach Airport to Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Sacramento and Oakland, Calif.
The closure came just weeks after the company cut its four Boeing 737 jets to two and laid off about 75 workers. The company also stopped its flights to Oakland.
Customers with paid reservations will receive refunds. Passengers between trips will receive refunds for the remaining portion of their trips, but they may be forced to pay more expensive fares to get home.
A spokeswoman for the airline had no estimate of how many passengers may have been stranded in Las Vegas.
WinAir Chief Executive Officer Larry Gelwix, speaking at a press conference at the Long Beach Airport, said the company needed about $30 million to acquire the additional planes needed to stay in business.
WinAir is talking with other airlines to see if they will help WinAir's passengers with their return trips, Gelwix said. Since WinAir was the only airline offering direct flights between Las Vegas and Long Beach, passengers were left with the option of connecting through another city or returning to another Los Angeles-area airport.
About 360 employees found out Tuesday that the airline was shutting down and were told they would receive final paychecks next week.
The company had contracted with America West Airlines employees in Las Vegas and used America West's counter and gate space on the B concourse for operations.
The Associated Press
contributed to this report.
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