A month after losing service from one airline, Sonoma County’s regional airport excitedly announced this past week that Southwest Airlines will begin operations in April.
The addition of the airline to Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport’s departure boards means passengers will have the ability to travel to Burbank, Denver, Las Vegas, and San Diego nonstop. As one of the largest airlines in the United States, Southwest will connect the small regional airport with its massive network across the country.
“Having Southwest Airlines, a major U.S. carrier, serve Sonoma County is huge in terms of the economic impact on the North Bay. We are poised to see a bump in tourism from across Southwest’s extensive network,” said Sonoma County spokesperson Matt Brown in an emailed statement. “Additionally, Sonoma County residents will be able to utilize the region’s most convenient airport to travel to many more destinations once Southwest flights begin.”
“We’ve been very interested and eager for their service for a long time, and patience paid off.” Jon Stout, Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport manager
Brown said Southwest is filling the gap left by a previous carrier, Avelo Airlines, which operated similarly sized planes but suspended service to the airport in August.
The airport manager, Jon Stout, was also thrilled of the news that Southwest decided to fly from his facility. According to him, talks with the airline have been happening since 2008 and finally after years of facility upgrades and discussions, the carrier has agreed to operate from Sonoma County.
“We’re very excited and looking forward to a long-term partnership with Southwest,” said Stout. “We’ve been very interested and eager for their service for a long time, and patience paid off.”
The sky seems to be the limit
Stout said the Sonoma County airport has grown its flight activity by more than 60 percent since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and he predicts a 20 percent increase in flight traffic once Southwest fully integrates into their system.
Over the past few years, the airline has pushed to expand into more California markets, such as its expansions into Santa Barbara and Fresno in 2020. The airline advertises itself as the largest carrier for Californians traveling within the state.
“We aren’t slowing down in our pursuit to provide customers with more options than ever before,” said Andrew Watterson, chief operating officer at Southwest Airlines. “Adding Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport to our route map provides more access to California’s famed Wine Country for our customers and further solidifies our yearslong commitment to California.”
Data from aviation analytics company Cirium shows the intra-California market is one of the busiest corridors in the country. Over 7,000 commercial flights are scheduled in September that connect the major commercial airports in Northern California and the ones in the southern part of the state.
The Sonoma County airport is scheduled to have almost 250 flights to Southern California in September, but more flights are expected once Southwest moves in, possibly competing with the other dominant airports in the region.
Southwest has a major hub at Oakland International Airport and large presences at the San Jose and San Francisco airports as well, but when factoring travel times to the airport, some locals are ready to take off.
“I am extremely excited! I feel like it’s it is an awesome thing for the North Bay to have access to markets like Las Vegas and Denver without having to go to San Francisco or Oakland,” said Santa Rosa resident Tyler Toler. “Shaving off so much time of actually getting to the destination and actually enjoying the destination.”