American Airlines has started service between Eugene and Los Angeles. The incoming inaugural flight was welcomed at the Eugene Airport with a water arch provided by the Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting crew at EUG.
American will serve the Eugene Airport with twice daily nonstop service, between Eugene and Los Angeles, on 50-seat CRJ aircraft.
“We are very pleased to welcome American Airlines to the Eugene Airport,” said Eugene Airport Director Tim Doll, A.A.E. “This new service will provide much needed additional seat capacity to LAX. Los Angeles is by far our most popular passenger destination for both business and leisure travel.”
American Airlines previously served EUG from July 2, 1985 to September 10, 1993, with flights to Portland, Dallas/Fort Worth and San Jose. This brings to six the number of airlines serving the Eugene Airport, the most commercial airlines ever operating at EUG.
With the addition of the American service, there will be approximately 11,000 weekly departing seats. A comparison of weekly departing seat numbers from five years ago, during the great recession, shows a 39 percent increase in seats at EUG as of June 12. During that same time period, the Eugene Airport increased passenger retention by 8 percent.