Well, that was short-lived. New regional airline aha! (air-hotel-adventure) is ending service to my local airport just months after launching the new route. I’d hoped that it would last, at least until summer, so that we could potentially fly for a long weekend in Tahoe. Looks like we’re back to driving if we want to visit.
Aha! Ending ACV Service
Local airport promotion organization Fly Humboldt broke the news yesterday. aha! is exiting the ACV market on March 31, 2022.
I worried from the beginning how much demand there would be between Reno-Tahoe and Arcata-Eureka. Even with service only being offered a few days per week, it doesn’t look like aha! was able to fill enough seats to continue to route. When I flew a nearly free aha! ticket back in December 2021, there were only a handful of people on the ERJ-145.
For people interested in visiting beautiful Tahoe in the summer or skiing in the winter, flying certainly beats the 8-hour drive from Humboldt County to Tahoe. Doesn’t look like enough of us ski. On second thought, it’s on the rarest of years we get a dusting of snow on the coast where everyone lives.
Will Aha! Make It Overall?
Cutting routes just months after they began doesn’t bode all that well for aha! They need butts in seats for whichever routes they decide to operate. Obviously, Arcata didn’t work. It’s likely service from cities like Ontario are faring much better. I hope that the new little regional airline survives on its unique business model and continues to serve small cities out of its Reno-Tahoe hub.
