Big rivals edge out small Sonoma airport carriers

raphy publication. “It’s close and it’s easier.”

But even as large airlines add flights to and from Sonoma, some smaller ones have struggled. Allegiant Air, Sonoma County’s second commercial tenant, announced this week it was pulling out of the airport because of insufficient demand.

The airline, headquartered in Las Vegas, had been running twiceweekly flights to Phoenix and Las Vegas. But it is ending its Las Vegas service at the end of this month, and it stopped running its Phoenix flights in January, three months after American Airlines announced plans to operate daily flights to its Arizona hub.

American Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Seth Kaplan, managing partner of industry publication Airline Weekly, said that efforts from American and United to match budget airline prices, along with the array of connections and services available, may have contributed to Allegiant’s pullout.

“Those airlines don’t ignore ultra-low-cost carriers anymore,” he said. “They will compete for every customer now, and they have weapons like their loyalty program.”

Allegiant has “to reorient itself because now they don’t have these new markets anymore,” Kaplan said.

It’s unlikely that Allegiant’s departure will have a significant impact on the airport, aviation analyst Brian Foley said. The airline accounted for 6 percent of passenger volume at Sonoma County in March.

“Instead, it’s those who fly out of (Sonoma County) that will most probably feel the effect as the remaining airlines raise their fares to the destinations that were previously served by Allegiant,” he said.

No airline has announced service from Santa Rosa to Las Vegas. Allegiant said its decision to move was unrelated to other carriers’ service at the airport.