When Southwest Airlines pops into Santa Barbara next week, it is expected to become the dominant airline in the local market almost immediately.
A celebration is planned for Monday morning after the first Boeing 737 aircraft of the luxury airline touches down in Santa Barbara, bringing the first passengers from Las Vegas.
Southwest’s initial schedule requires five daily direct flights – three to Vegas and one each to Denver and Oakland.
“Right outside the gate, Southwest Airlines – if they even fly 50% full – will occupy the dominant position in the Santa Barbara market,” Deanna Zachrisson, business development manager at Santa Barbara Airport, told Noozhawk.
But the other airlines serving Santa Barbara – United, American and Alaska – are not expected to stay in their seats and plan to add capacity and routes from May and June.
“With Southwest’s current schedule, they will have about 40% of the total available seats, a larger share than any other carrier,” Zachrisson said. ‘However, we expect the other three airlines to add capacity as the air travel recovers, and that will be the case for a while.
A Boeing 737 aircraft from Southwest Airlines with its distinctive color. (Photo contributed)
“In order to accommodate that kind of capacity, the airport had to make some changes to the building.”
Southwest does not charge a baggage fee, Zachrisson noted, and the airline warned airport officials that its passengers tend to carry “much more” baggage than other airlines, including large and bulky items such as surfboards, golf clubs, skis “and even kayaks. ”
To accommodate the increase, the drain in the baggage claim area of the terminal has been expanded to more than double its previous size, and a baggage service office for Suidwes has been added.
Other upgrades that have been added include new computer equipment and boarding pass and luggage tag readers in the ticket portal, and the expansion of capacity at the Gate 5 stage to be able to tackle four flights aboard the ground plan at the same time.
“Depending on the type of aircraft, we could in theory house eight aircraft on the ground at a time,” Zachrisson said.
Southwest charges no baggage fees, and its passengers tend to carry “much more” baggage along than other airlines. This forced Santa Barbara Airport to expand the discharge in the baggage claim area of the terminal to more than double the previous size. (Tom Bolton / Noozhawk photo)
While Suidwes is in the market, the other airlines have their own plans, she said:
»United will add a third daily direct flight to Denver from 6 May. He will also resume his daily service to Los Angeles International Airport, which was suspended a year ago, with a single early morning flight.
»American plans to start an uninterrupted service at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport this weekend (Saturday and Sunday) from May 8, probably with Airbus A319 aircraft.
»United also want to add service to O’Hare sometime in June, based on the availability of pilots and aircraft. ‘
»Alaska plans to add daily service to San Diego from June 17.
New computer equipment and boarding pass and luggage files were installed in the lobby before Southwest’s debut in Santa Barbara. (Tom Bolton / Noozhawk photo)
Delta Airlines, which suspended its service between Santa Barbara and Salt Lake City last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has not announced whether or when flights will resume. Prior to the pandemic, the carrier offered three daily flights between the two cities.
Delta “still says they plan to come back,” Zachrisson said, but it did not provide any details.
Airline passenger traffic crashed in 2020 due to COVID-19, but it gradually returned.
Santa Barbara Airport had its best year ever in 2019 – only shy of 1 million passengers – but it will predict much less this year, Zachrisson said.
“We are all in an unlimited area – the biggest fall ever, followed by a recovery that we believe will take time, but no one really knows,” she said. “Most industry analysts believe that the industry will not recover until 2023 until 2019.”
– Tom Bolton, executive editor of Noozhawk, can be reached (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Get in touch with Noozhawk on Facebook.