Sonoma County airport trends toward record passenger year

Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport is getting closer to far eclipsing its 2019 record for airline passengers.

And the Santa Rosa facility is ready for that growth to continue.

This week, the airport unveiled its brand-new terminal, the centerpiece of its approximately $40 million improvement and modernization project that kicked off two years ago.

In the first 10 months of this year, the commercial airlines serving the airport have flown 517,404 passengers, up from 340,107 a year earlier and ahead of the 488,000 carried in 2019, airport officials reported Wednesday. By the end of October 2020, the airport had flown 166,658 travelers, according to the figures.

Passenger figures for October were up from September, according to airport officials.

The four commercial air carriers servicing the airport in October — United Airlines, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines and Avelo Airlines — collectively flew 59,939 passengers through the facility. That was up 6.1% from a year earlier and above the 58,777 passengers flown in September.

United Airlines on Nov. 1 ceased operations at the Santa Rosa facility, as previously reported. It finished October having flown 1,917 passengers through the airport, down 20.8% from a year earlier. United’s load factor — the measure of how full airplanes are on average — last month was 78%.

While the airport now has one less carrier, it did add another route this month when Avelo Airlines on Nov. 11 launched its flights to Palm Springs, as the Business Journal first reported Aug. 4.

Burbank-based Avelo in October flew 9,952 passengers through the Sonoma County airport, up 7.9% from October 2021. Its load factor was 64%.

Alaska Airlines in October flew 37,754 passengers through the regional airport, up 7.4% from a year earlier. The airline’s load factor was 81%.

American Airlines last month flew 10,316 passengers through Santa Rosa — 6.5% more than October 2021. American’s load factor was 80%.