United Airlines pushes back return of Denver, San Francisco flights to Sonoma County

United Airlines is heading back to Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport.

After temporarily suspending service on Nov. 1 as air travel idled amid rising COVID-19 infection rates, airport officials learned this week that the commercial carrier in early June will resume flights to the two markets it serves at the airport. Denver service will return June 3, and the San Francisco route will follow a day later.

United’s return comes a few months later than its initial projection of late March, but that was contingent on the pandemic’s status, as the Business Journal previously reported.

Meanwhile, airport officials on Wednesday reported passenger volume last month at the Sonoma County facility was mostly unchanged from January.

Alaska Airlines and American Airlines — the two other commercial carriers that have continuously serviced the Santa Rosa airport throughout the pandemic — collectively flew 6,644 passengers last month, down 82.2% from a year earlier, according to the newly reported figures.

At its lowest point in February, the airport flew just three flights in one day, according to Airport Manager Jon Stout. He said he’s seeing signs of air traffic starting to increase, including more cars in the parking lot and more passengers coming off planes. Alaska and American also are reporting fuller planes and advanced bookings, he said.

“I would expect that we'll start seeing visitors coming back reasonably soon,” Stout said, adding that other tourism destinations have reopened more than California and are already back to, or above, 2019 levels of air travel. “So there is the desire and the demand. California is still one of the more restricted states, and it is reflected in the amount of travelers.”

Alaska Airlines last month carried 4,868 passengers, down 82.3% from February 2020. Alaska’s load factor — the measure of how full its airplanes were on average — was 44%, down 46.3% from a year earlier.

American Airlines in February carried 1,776 passengers through the Sonoma County airport, down 68.1% from the year prior. The carrier’s load factor was 41%, down 47.4% from February 2020.

Both Alaska and American’s passenger numbers were roughly the same in January.