New Pacific Airlines has cancelled flights on its last remaining scheduled route between Ontario, California and Nashville, Tennessee, as the struggling start-up carrier pivots to an entirely charter-based business model.
The last set of round-trip flights between Nashville and Ontario International airport outside of Los Angeles are scheduled on New Pacific’s website for 5 April. No New Pacific flights are available for booking beyond that date.
The carrier tells FlightGlobal on 25 March it still has ”a long-term plan to relaunch scheduled service”, but it will now focus on using its trio of older Boeing 757s for charter operations.
Passengers who had booked flights between Ontario and Reno, Nevada late last week received abrupt notices that their flights had been cancelled, forcing some to purchase tickets with other carriers.
Formerly known as Northern Pacific Airways, the Anchorage, Alaska-based carrier has operated a mix of scheduled passenger flights and charters since launching in July 2023. Last week, the carrier indicated that it was switching to a charter-based model after struggling to catch on with its scheduled service.
In January, New Pacific cut flights to Las Vegas due to consistent ground delays related to air traffic control issues and runway closures. Then on 22 March, it eliminated flights between Reno and Ontario, leaving twice-weekly flights between Ontario and Nashville as its lone scheduled route. Now, those flights will also cease.
”Rule number one is stay in business,” chief executive Rob McKinney told FlightGlobal on 22 March. ”We’ve got to go where the business and where the money is, and right now we see [charters] as the lowest-hanging fruit, and our best efforts can be put in the charter market in the short run.”
New Pacific has a deal with Florida-based Elevate Aviation Group, a charter company that caters to sports teams, concert goers and government agencies. Elevate will feed charter contracts to New Pacific through the arrangement.
McKinney maintains that the long-term plan remains to launch transpacific flights to cities in Asia, using Anchorage as a stopover for its 757s.
