California Pacific Airlines (San Diego McClellan Palomar) founder, Ted Vallas, says his start-up is planning to acquire an unnamed, "small airline" in the coming months with the aim of using its Air Operators Certificate (AOC) to launch operations out of San Diego McClellan Palomar.
“You’re immediately certificated,” Vallas told the Coast News. “It only takes a couple of months to add a new type of aircraft to the certificate.”
Though Vallas would not name the airline he intends to acquire, he did state that it currently operates five Boeing 737 aircraft on flights nationwide. Should the merger and takeover be successful, Vallas intends to continue operation of the B737s and within two years operate a total of twelve E170s and E190.
Since its launch in 2010, Cal Pacific has encountered numerous obstacles on its path to certification with the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) blaming "a number of deficiencies relating to safety, maintenance and inspections" for its latest rejection. The federal regulator postponed a subsequent reapplication on the grounds it did not have adequate manpower and resources available.
With the granting of its AOC on the cards last year, California Pacific had planned to operate an E170, N760CP (cn 17000006), on flights out of San Diego McClellan Palomar to Sacramento International, San José, US, Oakland International, Phoenix Sky Harbor, Las Vegas Harry Reid and San José Cabo.
