The Indian Wells Valley Airport District has decided to end its contract with Boutique Air (4B, San Francisco) to provide scheduled operations at Inyokern airport, reports the Ridgecrest Daily Independent. The District Board made the decision following two months of low demand, which cost the district around USD100,000 a month.

"If we keep on going out at the rate, by the end of December we will end up owing more money than what is in the grant," said airport General Manager, Scott Seymour. "It's a hard decision to make, but from a business standpoint it's an easy one."

The airport received a USD450,000 grant from the US Department of Transportation (DOT), which was supplemented by USD100,000 in local donations, to restart services. Boutique commenced ops in early August, connecting the town to Los Angeles International on a 12x weekly service. The airport used the grant to subsidise Boutique for empty seats, but loads were frequently below 50%. Seymour anticipated that November and December numbers would dwindle to as low as one passenger per flight on the 9-seater PC-12.

The Board has yet to decide if they will pursue other air services for the town.

"We are going to consider all options but we don't know yet," said board president Paul Valovich. "This is not a trivial thing for us."