San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Sonoma County to get a direct flight to Las Vegas this year
Commercial air service, already on the rise at Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport, got another lift this week when Alaska Airlines announced a new direct flight to and from Las Vegas.
The flights will start Oct. 1, the airline said Thursday, and will make Las Vegas the airline’s seventh nonstop destination out of the Wine Country airport.
News of the additional flight comes on the heels of upstart Avelo Airlines’ announcement last month that it will offer four new nonstop flights in May, making it the airline with the most destinations flying out of the Santa Rosa airport.
In January, Avelo said that it will make the airport one of its bases, stationing at least two of its Boeing Next-Generation 737 aircraft there and employing as many as 50 new crew members.
The airport, which has the code name STS, offers commercial jet service from Alaska, Avelo and American airlines.
With the addition of the flight this fall, Alaska will offer direct service to seven destinations: Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Burbank, Orange County, Seattle, Portland, Ore., and San Diego. Nonstop flights will depart from the airport to 15 destinations on the three airlines.
“We feel a deep connection with Santa Rosa,” said Kirsten Amrine, vice president of network planning and revenue management at Alaska Airlines. “Alaska became the first carrier to bring commercial service to Sonoma County Airport nearly two decades ago — and we’ve remained the largest airline at STS serving nearly 2 million guests since then.”
In 2023, 641,178 passengers flew in and out of STS, according to airport figures. San Francisco International, the Bay Area’s largest and busiest airport, served 50.2 million passengers, while Mineta San Jose International had 12.1 million and Oakland International had 11.2 million.
Paul Kuroda/Special to The Chronicle