New flights lift Sonoma County Airport travel 29% in March

Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport north of Santa Rosa continues to see a steady rise in the number of commercial airline passengers, with the number traveling through in March up 29.4 percent over last year, based on figures released April 6.

Since January 2015, the airline passenger count has continued to rise every month. The latest report from Sonoma County Airport reveals that total passengers for the month was 23,359 compared to 18,050 in 2015. For the year, total passenger count is 63,892 compare to 49,791 last year, an increase of 28.3 percent.

The overall increase can be attributed to a new and more frequent flights. A new daily route between Santa Rosa and Orange County started March 16. A third flight was added to Los Angeles, as was a second to Seattle.

Alaska Airlines is currently the only airline to serve the airport. That will change next month, when Allegiant Air begins flights from Santa Rosa to Las Vegas and Phoenix.

The load factor - how full the seats were on each plane - was up 7.8 percent to 83 percent for the year, so the airport saw a slight increase in ridership as well.

In March, there were 183 arrivals and 182 departures.

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