Las Vegas Business Press :: News : Vision airlines eyes regular pax service

Vision airlines eyes regular pax service

NLV operator awaits FAA OK for Arizona, California runs

BY ARNOLD M. KNIGHTLY
BUSINESS PRESS

An established local charter airline has applied to the federal government to expand its operations to include regularly scheduled commercial service. Vision Airlines hopes to be approved within 60 to 90 days for a license to operate as a Part 121 commercial air carrier offering regularly scheduled flights to and from secondary airports outside large metropolitan centers.

"We see a very important niche market in aviation in and out of Las Vegas," said Larry Siggelkow, chief operating officer for the privately held Vision Aviation Holdings. "That niche market involves 30-seat aircraft that are able to go into the outlying areas of major metropolitan cities without having to have all the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) security screening and heavy checks that are required in the major international airports."

Besides the convenience of customers not being bogged down at busy checkpoints, Siggelkow also points to the benefit of having an easier experience at small, secondary airports: Many do not charge for parking, and smaller crowds mean passengers can show up as late as 30 minutes before takeoff.

Capt. Nobuhiro Kinoshita inspects the propeller on a Vision Airlines plane at North Las Vegas airport.

Federal Aviation Administration regulations state that planes with 31 seats or more are required to fly into major airports such as McCarran International Airport. Vision's largest aircraft flying out of North Las Vegas Airport is the 30-seat Dornier 328, a twin-engine turboprop plane. On April 6, Vision started offering four days per week service on the Dornier 328 as a scheduled charter between North Las Vegas and Williams Gateway Airport in Mesa, Ariz., 20 miles east of Phoenix.

PLAYING WITH THE BIG BOYS

"To get into the niche market, you can't go head to head with somebody like Southwest Airlines," Siggelkow said. "They're too big, they got too much money and they're too entrenched. You can't go head to head with them and win, so you have to come up with a different plan in the airline business. Our plan is to go into these niche markets Southwest can't penetrate."

The company is currently under a Part 135 operating certificate from the FAA, which only allows limited charter service. With the Part 121 application currently under review by the Department of Transportation, Vision was hoping for approval to start the commercial service by the end of June, but the date has been pushed back to late September.

"The certification process is very lengthy and very complex," Siggelkow said. "It's not like it used to be prior to the ValuJet crash."

On May 9, 1996, ValuJet Airlines Flight 592 crashed in the Florida Everglades, killing 110 passengers and flight crew. The National Transportation Safety Board's investigation that followed led to safety- check changes at the FAA that forced an extensive re-certification process for Part 121 airlines.

"When we're done, we'll be a lean, mean, modern and very safe airline," said Siggelkow, who believes Vision will be the third new application approved since the accident.

If and when approved, Vision Airlines will offer seven-days-per-week service to Mesa, and with plans to offer regularly scheduled service to and from Scottsdale Airport, 10 miles north of Tempe, Ariz.; McClellan-Palomar Airport in Carlsbad, Calif., 30 miles north of San Diego; and Long Beach Airport, 25 miles south of Los Angeles.

"Our service in these different communities has been very well received," Siggelkow said. "Mayors and city officials are very anxious for us to come in there and start the service.

"We want to have several daily flights a week to the different communities and expand our niche-market concept into central and northern California and Utah."

GRAND CANYON TOURS

While gradually expanding the business to the point where it would become a commercial airline was always part of the business plan. The 12-year journey for the company has been carefully guided by the founders and, since 1998, Siggelkow. Incorporated April 12, 1994 by brothers William and Steve Acor, Vision Air started out as a one-plane operation flying air tours to the Grand Canyon. The business has expanded to a fleet of 19 aircraft offering charters to geographic landmarks like Monument Valley in Utah, Yellowstone National Park and Yosemite National Park, as well as to some secondary airports, including Reno.

Vision Airlines' parent company, Vision Aviation Holdings, also operates Vision Holidays, which offers tour packages to and from Las Vegas, and Vision Coach, which includes a mixed fleet of 22 luxury motorcoaches, buses and vans.

The company operates out of a two-story hangar and office building south of the North Las Vegas Airport terminal. Bought by Clark County from the Howard Hughes Corp. in 1987, the airport is a general aviation center that offers relief to McCarran. Approximately $40 million has been spent on the facility to entice charter airlines to relocate from McCarran.

Siggelkow, who has been piloting aircraft since he was 16, and the Acor brothers, first worked together in the mid-1970s at another charter business, Lang Airlines. When the Acors sold the business in 1992, the new owners changed the name to Eagle Canyon Airlines, which eventually became Scenic Airlines. Scenic's office building can be seen from Siggelkow's second-story office window at Vision.

Ironically, while Vision is expanding its business, Scenic has started to phase out scheduled flights within Nevada -- Reno, Elko, Ely, and North Las Vegas -- to refocus its business on Grand Canyon tours, according to a recent story in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

"It seems like the world eventually wants to come to Las Vegas," Siggelkow said. "We want niche markets where nobody can compete with our aircraft."

aknightly@lvbusinesspress.com | 702-871-6780 x316

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