Alaska Airlines will end its non-stop flights between Eugene and San Jose at the end of August. The change comes during a global pilot shortage.
The direct flights started in 2010 and were funded by a federal grant for small airports. The marketing slogan was “connecting the Silicon Shire to Silicon Valley” but Airport Director Tim Doll says the flights just weren’t consistently full.
“They’ve given it every shot they could and we’ve provided some marketing support and everything and it’s just not economically feasible for that flight to continue. And they also have a little bit of a pilot shortage issue that they’re working on so there’s multiple reasons but we are a little disappointed.”
The Eugene Airport is experiencing a record year for passengers with an increase of 17% from last year which was also a record year. The Eugene / San Jose direct flights will end August 25th.