The Chico Municipal Airport will no longer provide passenger flight services starting Dec. 2.
SkyWest, an airline company in partnership with United Airlines, was the only flight service connected to the Chico airport and decided to end its services.
The company said fuel costs, maintenance, government regulations and low ticket sales were the main reasons for ending its services. SkyWest is also ending services to Humboldt County.
The airline was a shuttle for people to get to the San Francisco International Airport where they would connect to their next flight.
Chico State international students often fly from the Chico airport when going home.
“Being an international student, that would interfere with my layovers,” said Ledion Kola, an international student from Albania.
While the airport may no longer serve passengers, it will continue to be an important function to the community, said Mark Orme, Chico city manager.
“There remains a number of other positive uses at the airport which are thriving,” he said. “From the Cal Fire air attack base to Airspray, the runway area continues to be active and, of course, we have a number of local pilots who regularly use the airport.”
Chico has been discussing finding another airline to replace SkyWest but no concrete steps have been taken.
Lana Goddu can be reached at [email protected] or @theorion_news on Twitter.