Sonoma County Airport flights up 26%

A record 44,804 passengers flew through Santa Rosa's Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport in July, based on new figures from the airport.

Traffic increased from 40,383 airline passengers carried in June. The July numbers for 2017 were 26.6 percent above the 35,384 passengers who flew in July 2016, according to monthly numbers released Wednesday. A few charters also serve the airport.

For the year so far, airline passengers totaled 226,147, up 19 percent from 190,130 this time in July last year.

In July, Alaska Airlines reported 32,589 passengers and a 78 percent load factor — the ratio of passengers to seats on each plane. Over the year, Alaska's ridership was up 2.6 percent, with 184,197 passengers so far this year.

American Airlines, which began service to Phoenix in February and added a second flight in July, reported 5,166 passengers for the month and 20,714 so far in the year. The carrier's load factor was 64 percent.

'American noted that advance bookings were fairly set for most personal/business travel by the time that they put the additional July flights up for sale. Their preliminary August numbers show load factors back in the 80s,' airport officials said.

United Airlines, which began service between Santa Rosa (airport code STS) and San Francisco (SFO) June 8, reported 5,032 passengers for the month and a load factor of 55 percent.

Allegiant, which ceased operations at the airport July 30, reported 2,017 passengers in July, with a load factor of 76 percent, and 12,892 passengers for the year.

The airport is currently preparing for Sun Country Airlines, which starts once a week service to Minneapolis next week, officials said.

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