Las Cruces explores bringing back passenger flights to city’s airport

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico -- The Las Cruces City Council discussed at a meeting on Monday the possibility of attracting commercial passenger flights back to the Las Cruces International Airport.

Currently there are none; the last airline to provide service at the Las Cruces airport was Westward Airways, which ceased operations in 2005. It was among nearly a dozen different air carriers that had provided service at the airport since the 1940s.

Economic development officials briefed council on their work with an aviation consulting firm that is examining the feasibility of restoring passenger air service. It's part of a broader effort to improve the economic outlook for both the airport and the and the West Mesa Industrial Park, city officials said.

The consultants believe that "there is enough passenger demand in Las Cruces to have two to four daily flights on a 50 to 76 seat jet aircraft" with service to either Dallas or Phoenix for connecting options.

Those working on the plans acknowledged the challenges currently posed by the Covid-19 pandemic in attracting an air carrier to Las Cruces.

American Airlines, which is a top carrier out of El Paso International Airport and is an airline that Las Cruces might seek to attract, has recently cut routes to some smaller cities - and virtually all of the airlines have slashed their number of flights.

Even larger city airports are currently struggling. Recent figures showed departures out of El Paso's airport were down about 70% since the pandemic took hold and airline travel plummeted nationwide.

You can watch the entire council discussion in the video player below.