Western Pacific Airlines Slashes Fares.(Originated from Gazette Telegraph, Colorado Springs, Colo.)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.--Jul. 31--To fill its jets in the post-summer vacation lull, Western Pacific Airlines is slashing its fares for the next two weeks for fall travel.

WestPac is offering seats at $49 one-way to eight Midwest cities; $69 to 10 Midwest and West Coast cities; and $99 to four cities on the East Coast.

Seating is limited, but WestPac Chairman Edward Beauvais said the discounts apply to about half the 138 seats on each of its Boeing 737-300 jets.

"We were concerned that people will get complacent after the Olympics," Beauvais said. "We want to make fares so cheap they can't afford to stay home."

The fare sale begins today and expires Aug. 14. WestPac requires a two-week advance purchase. The sale applies to travel beginning Aug. 14 through Dec. 14. The discounts do not apply to travel during the Thanksgiving holiday period of Nov. 26 to Dec. 3.

The sale prices represent about a $30 discount for each roundtrip over standard WestPac fares.

"It's a savings," said Linda Robison, who expects phones to be ringing at her Academy Travel & Tours Inc. "Although $30 doesn't sound like much for one ticket, for a family of four that's a $120 savings. You can afford to take grandma along."

For example, WestPac's lowest roundtrip fares for a trip from Colorado Springs to Newark, N.J., is $228. The discount lowers that price to $198.

To Dallas, the current roundtrip rate is $128. It drops to $98 with the sale.

And to San Francisco, WestPac offers a late-night fare of $138 and daytime prices of $168. The sale price is $138 good day or night.

The fare sale will not apply to WestPac's new Mountain Air Express, which does not start flying until Dec. 4.

Its fares will range from $69 to $119 for flights to Aspen, Crested Butte-Gunnison, Vail-Eagle, Steamboat Springs, Telluride-Montrose and Purgatory-Durango.

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