Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport will soon be busier than ever as airlines serving the airport ramp up operations.
First up is Avero Airlines. The Houston-based airline is preparing to begin scheduled base operations at Santa Rosa Airport on May 1, which was first announced in January.
“We’re still working on setup with them. We have a large crew in town this week,” said airport manager John Stout, adding there was a “rush of activity” within the facility. Ta.
On the same day, Avero will begin previously announced nonstop service from Sonoma County to Kalispell, Montana. Boise, Idaho. Salem, Oregon. Four new routes will double his market for airline service from Santa Rosa. Existing routes include Burbank, Las Vegas, Palm Springs and central Oregon.
Five days later, on May 6, American Airlines will resume seasonal flights to Dallas with larger aircraft.
American Airlines will fly a 128-seat Airbus A319 between Dallas and Santa Rosa instead of a 76-seat Embraer E175.
Stout said the introduction of the larger aircraft will require more extensive groundwork before Dallas flights resume in just over two weeks.
“They’re hiring more people and delivering new equipment because they’re going to need bigger tugs and different tow bars,” Stout said. “Then they will be training in the field with all of that new equipment.”
Separately, Stout said the ground suspension issued by Alaska Airlines on Wednesday had minimal impact on Santa Rosa Airport. That’s because of what the company said in a statement to the Business Journal was “an issue during an upgrade to the system that calculates weight and balance.” The ground stop lasted about an hour, from 7:30 a.m. Pacific time to 8:30 a.m. Pacific time, the state of Alaska said.
Stout said Alaska Airlines’ first flight of the day from Sonoma County Airport departed before the ground stop, but service disruptions spilled over into the day, causing delays.
Meanwhile, the Sonoma County Airport Authority reported passenger numbers for March totaling 49,507, down 0.3% from the same month last year. The total number of passengers in February was 37,849.
Alaska Airlines carried 32,145 passengers through the airport last month, an increase of 5.9% from a year ago. The load factor, which measures the average number of seats on an aircraft, was 80%. Alaska carried 24,849 passengers through the facility in February.
Avero Airlines carried 13,550 passengers through Sonoma County Airport in March, an increase of 18.6% from a year earlier. The utilization rate was 64%. Avero transited Santa Rosa in February, carrying 9,465 passengers.
American Airlines carried 3,812 travelers through its Sonoma County facilities in March, a 51.4% decrease compared to March 2023. The occupancy rate was 95%. American Airlines carried 3,535 passengers in February.
According to statistics, the number of passengers at the airport since the beginning of the year was 125,909, a decrease of 0.8% from the previous year.
Stout said the slight year-over-year decline in passenger numbers was due to American Airlines operating fewer flights compared to the first quarter of 2023, as well as a nearly three-month delay in restarting its Dallas flight. Said to be due to. These flights were originally scheduled to return on February 15th.
“If American had not made these changes, we would have seen an increase of about 5% instead of a decline of about 1%,” Stout said.
And while it’s too early to predict how many passengers will use the airport this year, Stout said he expects passenger numbers to increase in the coming months.
“Based on the summer schedule from May 1st to August, we expect an overall increase of about 20% due to American Airlines’ increased aircraft capacity, Avero base operations, and increased flight operations. (number of passengers) on the route from Alaska.” As previously reported, Alaska Airlines will be offering nonstop flights to Las Vegas starting October 1st.