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Leaving on a jet plane bound for L.A.?

Starting this month, traveling by way of the Des Moines International Airport could be a little more convenient for people en route to Los Angeles.

“We are always evaluating what our customers are telling us and where they are traveling to,” said Jeff Kovick, a spokesman for United Air Lines Inc. “This addition is in response to customers’ interests.”

United will begin offering nonstop service between L.A. and Des Moines on Feb. 13. Los Angeles is the 10th most popular destination out of Des Moines; Las Vegas is the most popular.

“All 10 of our top 10 destinations will have nonstop flights,” said Roy Criss, spokesman for the Des Moines airport.

Nonstop flights, different from direct flights, allow passengers to arrive at their destination without first traveling to a hub, switching planes or stopping while additional customers are picked up. Hubs are used to bring passengers together to fill a plane before flying to the destination.

“Small commercial communities gain point-to-point service when the community drives up service; it creates great demand,” Criss said. “The reward is (clients) don’t have to fly through a hub.”

Airlines that fly out of the Des Moines airport enplaned 991,911 passengers in 2007, an increase of 12,000 passengers, or 1.3 percent, from the previous year. Despite the rise in enplanement, one nonstop flight has been dropped.

DSM would have been able to tout 20 nonstop flights come June, but in late December Comair, a Delta Connection carrier and subsidiary of Delta Air Lines Inc., temporarily suspended nonstop service between Des Moines and Salt Lake City International Airport.

In mid-December, Delta “pulled down service approximately 5 percent for domestic flights. … The reasoning was the rising cost of fuel,” said Anthony Black, a Delta spokesman. The press release issued by DSM announcing the suspension also mentioned low passenger load as a factor.

When decreasing service, airlines can either make small cuts in the number of flights offered to multiple locations, or drop service entirely to select destinations. Delta will still provide service between Des Moines and Salt Lake City, but customers will have to connect through a hub.

“It is not economical to fly that one flight,” Black said. “We can more efficiently serve customers through a hub.”

Comair’s nonstop service to Salt Lake City is not the first to be seasonally suspended. Allegiant Air’s service to Orlando takes “a hiatus during the thin months,” Criss said. “The only other choice is to pull out completely. At least we get to keep the temporary service.”

Over the past four years the Des Moines airport has “recaptured” nonstop service to Washington, D.C., and “captured” nonstop flights to Tampa/ St. Petersburg, Fla., La Guardia in New York and Orlando.

An additional nonstop flight is scheduled to begin service out of Des Moines. Continental Airlines Inc. will begin offering service between Cleveland and Des Moines on June 12. When service to Cleveland begins, DSM will provide nonstop flights to 19 destinations.

“With the Cleveland expansion, we looked at the largest markets that were currently not served from Cleveland and at the connecting opportunities to other cities in Continental’s route network,” said Mary Clark, a Continental spokeswoman.