Demand boosting Roswell-LAX flights

It will soon be even easier to fly west from southeastern New Mexico as American Eagle expands its service because of rising demand.

The airline has been flying out of Roswell for two years starting with flights to Dallas-Fort Worth and added trips to Los Angeles this summer.

Now it's adding even more flights.

"Given the economic conditions for the entire country, Roswell and the surrounding area have really come together to support the new route to Los Angeles,” American Eagles Managing Director of Sales Brian Coutts said.

Since August there have been four flights a week to and from Los Angeles, but starting next year the number bumps up to six. That's one flight each way every day except for Saturdays.

"We’ve seen good demand from Roswell, but also we're also seeing people come to Roswell,” Coutts added. Between the LAX and DFW flights American Eagle has served 70,000 passengers from Roswell this year he said.

The passengers have been a steady mix of tourism and business.

"It shows that the demand is out there on the part of the traveling public to support the service,” President Jon Hitchcock of the Roswell, Chaves County Economic Development Corporation said.

For the past two years American has accepted grant money from the state and Eddy and Chaves counties as well as several towns in the area from Ruidoso to Carlsbad.

"It was sort of a guarantee to the airline that the community believes in the service and we all are going to put our money where our mouth is," Coutts said.

That grant money will run out around the end of the year, but now that the airline is really taking off in Roswell, it can afford to fully fund its operations.

"That initial investment by the state of New Mexico, that seed money that was provided, was a great investment," Hitchcock said. "We'll all benefit for many years to come

There's also a change coming to the Roswell-DFW schedule. The three daily flights are being cut down to two although airline officials said the flights could increase again depending on demand.

The new airline schedule goes into effect Jan. 5.