[caption id="attachment_47291" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Alaska Air currently serves Santa Rosa with Bombardier Q400 turboprop aircraft."][/caption]
SANTA ROSA -- Passenger volume in and out of Charles M. Schulz--Sonoma County Airport in June increased 2.4 percent from a year before and was up significantly from May, according to airport figures released today.
In May, airline year-over-year volume slipped 1.6 percent to 17,768 passengers, according to figures from Alaska Airlines, the airport's only commercial carrier.
But in June of this year, the numbers climbed to 19,060, representing the busiest month so far this year as summer tourism got under way.
For the first half of 2012, 99,147 airline passengers passed through the airport, an annual increase of 1.5 percent from 97,638.
Through its subsidiary Horizon Air, Seattle-based Alaska Airlines offers flights to Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland and San Diego from Santa Rosa.
On June 4, Alaska Airlines started flights between San Diego and Santa Rosa, replacing service from Sonoma County to Las Vegas. A third flight to Los Angeles was also added, which helped spur the increase in ridership along with the tourism season, said Melinda Gay, spokeswoman for the airport.
