Sonoma County airport sees modest passenger drop in August, starts flights to Vegas

Avelo Airlines on Thursday began service between Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport and Las Vegas, according to airport officials.

The Burbank-based carrier, which in July announced the new route, is offering flights on Thursdays, Fridays, Sundays and Mondays.

Avelo entered the commercial airline market in late April, with its inaugural flight to the Santa Rosa facility.

Meanwhile, overall passenger counts for the regional facility dipped slightly in August from July, figures released Thursday show.

Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Avelo Airlines and United Airlines — the four commercial carriers servicing the airport — collectively flew 45,086 passengers through the Sonoma County facility, up 280.5% from a year earlier. In July, the airport flew 48,926 passengers, without United in the mix.

United restarted its flights to San Francisco on Aug.1 and for the month flew 2,073 passengers. Its load factor — the measure of how full airplanes are on average — was 68%.

United remains on track to resume its Denver service on Feb. 11, 2022.

Airport Manager Jon Stout said the decline of roughly 3,800 passengers from the month prior wasn’t surprising.

“The vast majority of the (drop) is due to the delta variant and the concerns around COVID,” Stout said. “And historically, we also see a dip right before Labor Day.”

Alaska Airlines, the regional facility’s largest commercial carrier, flew 28,105 passengers in August, up 247% from August 2020. Alaska’s load factor was 75%, compared with 31% a year earlier.

American Airlines in August flew 10,192 passengers through the Santa Rosa airport, up 253.2% from the year prior. The carrier’s load factor was 75%, up from 59% in August 2020.

American will suspend its Dallas flight at the Sonoma County airport for about three months starting Nov. 2, as the Business Journal reported last month. The restart date is still expected to be Feb. 17.

Avelo flew 4,716 passengers in August, with a load factor of 71%. The still-new airline has been performing well, Stout noted.

“We continue to hear very positive experiences from their customers,” he said.