Flights from L.A. grounded

Coronavirus halts plan to boost tourism, experts say key to restoring economy

A hoped-for air travel boost for the tourism industry was grounded by the harsh reality of the pandemic before a plan could even take flight.

Americans Airlines — which never officially announced the plan — had intended to jump-start direct flights from the Santa Fe Regional Airport to Los Angeles in April. Then the pandemic began.

“Nothing is happening with flights to L.A., but we are running about 40 percent of what we were running preCOVID at the airport, which is kind of amazing that we’re getting that in,” Tourism Santa Fe Executive Director Randy Randall said during a city meeting Tuesday on the film and digital media industries.

For now, direct flights to both L.A. and Phoenix, which were dropped in April, remain dormant.

“Once the pandemic hit and travel just kind of stopped altogether in March or April, they just never got that going again,” airport manager Mark Baca said Tuesday.

The municipal airport currently offers nonstop flights to Denver and Dallas, which also serve as connecting flights to other cities for Northern New Mexico residents and people flying into Santa Fe.

Resuming nonstop flights to L.A. and Phoenix, and expanding to Chicago and Houston, may be critical for the city and state’s economic recovery, Randall said.

He said the New Mexico Tourism Department hired a firm to study the importance of secondary airports and develop a marketing strategy to help them grow. A draft of the study, which has not been publicly released, said more direct flights to and from Santa Fe would help the state rebound from the pandemic-related recession, Randall said.

He did not return a phone call Tuesday seeking more information.

Flights at the Santa Fe airport collapsed between February and April as passenger numbers plummeted amid the pandemic, according to data from the Northern New Mexico Air Alliance. Executive Director Stuart C. Kirk said

earlier this year that American Airlines had about 14,000 passengers flying to and from Santa Fe in January and February, compared with 335 in April and 1,843 in May.

Since then, passenger traffic has steadily risen with the help of federal aid.

The Albuquerque International Sunport received the biggest share of COVID-19 relief, totaling about $2.3 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s infrastructure improvement grants for taxiway rehabilitation, and nearly $1.1 million from CARES Act grants.

The Santa Fe airport received $1.875 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Prior to the pandemic, the new L.A. service was planned as the city was designing a terminal expansion project, Baca has said.