California Pacific Airlines (San Diego McClellan Palomar) has announced that it will temporarily cease all its operations out of San Diego McClellan Palomar in January 2019 due to a "nationwide pilot shortage".

"We are in the process of training new qualified pilots who will allow us to relaunch services soon. January flights will be refunded automatically," the carrier said.

While the carrier said the suspension was temporary and for January only, as of December 31 no flights for February or later can be booked via its online reservation system.

California Pacific launched its services from the airport on November 1, 2018, and prior to the suspension of operations flew out of Carlsbad to Las Vegas Harry Reid, Phoenix Williams Gateway, Reno/Tahoe, and San José, US. It had originally planned to add services to Sacramento International and Denver International shortly.

The carrier also operates a 12x weekly Essential Air Service (EAS) route between Denver and Watertown, SD via Pierre taken over from ADI Aerodynamics (Pontiac Oakland County International), an airline acquired by CPA in 2017. The EAS route is not affected by the suspension of operations out of Carlsbad.

The carrier's fleet comprises four E145s, of which three are based out of Carlsbad and a single one out of Denver.