Horizon Air Goes to Mammoth

Horizon Air Touches Down in Mammoth Lakes

Mammoth Mountain, CA – The Town of Mammoth Lakes and Mammoth Mountain Ski Area welcomed the first commercial aircraft in over a decade to arrive in Mammoth Lakes, California on October 14, 2008.  Travelling from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), the 74 seat, high-speed, twin-engine turboprop Bombardier Q400 operated by Horizon Air safely touched down as scheduled at 10:05 a.m.

With a snowy Mammoth Mountain in the background, courtesy of an early-season snowstorm the previous weekend, the first passengers exited the plane to be greeted by a gathering of town dignitaries and local residents.  This inaugural flight was designed to give Horizon Air staff and special media guests a glimpse of what will come when nonstop daily service from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and Mammoth Lakes begins on December 18, 2008.

“We have been working very hard to get commercial air service back to Mammoth after a 13-year absence,” said Howard Pickett, Chief Marketing Officer at Mammoth Mountain.  Pickett continued, “Horizon’s daily flights will make it even easier to get to California’s biggest playground here in the Eastern Sierra.  Now winter enthusiasts will be able to spend more time enjoying the slopes, and less time trying to get here.”

Horizon Air will run daily service from Dec. 18, 2008, through April 12, 2009. The 65 minute flight departs Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) daily at 2:20 p.m. and arrives at Mammoth Yosemite Airport (MMH) at 3:25 p.m. The return flight leaves Mammoth at 4:05 p.m. and arrives at LAX at 5:10 p.m.  Introductory fares for select flights from Los Angeles to Mammoth Lakes are available for $79 each way, and standard fares are available starting at $99 each way.*

In preparation for commercial air service from Horizon Air, Mammoth Yosemite Airport recently underwent $12 million in improvements including a new 5,000 sq. foot commercial terminal building, a reconstructed runway and taxiway, new runway lighting, new ramp lighting and a new automated weather system.  The last commercial air service to MMH airport was Transworld Express in 1995.

Photo: Horizon Air touches down at Mammoth Yosemite Airport. Credit: Peatross/MMSA

Posted by staff on 10/15

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