Forget LAX says the Greater Coachella Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Palm Springs Convention and Visitors Bureau with their new campaign “Fly PSP First”.

The CEO for the GCVCC, Josh Bonner says the campaign wants to encourage locals and visitors to consider flying out of the Palm Springs International Airport instead of making the drive out of town to catch a flight.

Bonner said, “We want as many folks as possible to try to find flights of out Palm Springs first.”

The campaign may help reach people like Dan Sakols, who is visiting from Silicon Valley for a business trip.

“I expected that I would be flying into L.A.,” Sakol says. “And was surprised that there was an option directly from San Francisco, it was really convenient and affordable.”

He says he is not a golfer, so this trip was his first to the desert and it made him aware there was even an international airport in the valley.

Sakol says, “And I even went so far to call my wife just to tell her that I arrived and tell her what a cool airport I thought it was.”

And looking at the numbers, the cost to fly out of Palm Springs to New York comes to about a $100 difference compared to a departure from LAX.

The campaign also wants flyers to consider the extra expenses that may come from an out of town flight departure, there is gas, traffic and at times lodging costs.

“In fact, we changed this flight,” says Joe Adams.

He just landed from Boston. “We actually flew out of LA, and we re-directed the flight to Palm Springs for me so it would be easier.”

He says the convenience beats saving some money in a flight from a major airport, but he does see room for improvements, he would like to see more airlines and direct flights to the East Coast.

He says, “I kind of wish there were more direct flights to the East Coast but you know, Denver is not bad either.”

‘Fly PSP First’ is LAX Worth the Drive?