United Airlines Launch at Santa Maria Airport Delayed Until 2021 Due to Coronavirus

After the COVID-19 pandemic forced an initial delay of the United Airlines launch at the Santa Maria Public Airport from June to October, the company has now pushed its opening date to March 2021.

United Airlines is planning a March 4, 2021, start date and reduced service to Denver and San Francisco after dropping service to Los Angeles from Santa Maria, said Public Airport Manager Chris Hastert.

United announced in January that the airline would begin offering daily service in June but then contacted Santa Maria airport officials in March, expressing concern over the coronavirus. Airport officials, however, pushed them to start on June 4.

"Luckily, their crystal ball worked better than ours," Hastert said, adding airport officials couldn't have predicted the impacts of the pandemic. "We were very much in support of their decision."

United eventually landed on the March 2021 date in mid-June, Hastert said.

For now, the airport only offers service from Allegiant Air, which canceled all of its three flights per week at the beginning of the pandemic. The airline has slowly ramped up since restarting May 8 and now is at two flights per week, Hastert said.

Allegiant and United airlines serve different markets.

While Allegiant caters almost exclusively to leisure flyers, United would serve local business travelers, such as those in the agricultural and manufacturing industries, along with personnel at Vandenberg Air Force Base.

Up until the impacts of the pandemic, Allegiant had no issues and flights were operating at 90% capacity, Hastert said.

Now, flights are between 40% and 60% full, which is currently more than most other airlines, Hastert said. He added that each Allegiant flight had between nine and 20 passengers after restarting service but now has about 60 per flight.

"We only see that getting better," Hastert said, adding that operating costs for Allegiant to operate at the airport are generally low and that the airline doesn't have any flight cancellations in August, indicating things are improving.

"With United, we are very fortunate they are still talking to us," Hastert said. "A lot of their other markets outside of Santa Maria have been canceled."

The airport itself has taken some revenue losses, although it's currently operating at less than what was budgeted, said Hastert, who added the airport was a recipient of a $1,094,000 grant from the federal Coronavirus, Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or CARES, stimulus package passed March 27.

Airport officials have instituted a hiring freeze and cut back on noncritical expenses, although the airport remains in a good place financially because of diversification of assets that include firefighting and agricultural land leases, Hastert said.

"We can easily get into the middle of next year without any real loss of revenue that’s not made up for by CARES," he explained.

Pandemic impacting other services

Such other airport services as car rentals and shuttles have been significantly impacted by the pandemic.

Car rentals dropped off to nearly zero at the beginning of the pandemic but are slowly increasing, Hastert said, adding that Central Coast Shuttle tried to restart its service to Los Angeles, but demand wasn't high enough and the shuttle remains shut down for now.

The shuttle service had zero routes in May 2020, compared to 1,109 routes in May 2019, according to Airport District documents.

Additionally, the nearby Radisson hotel and Pepper Garcia's restaurant are "suffering hard" right now due to lack of business, with the restaurant shutting back down soon after reopening, Hastert said.

The restaurant had to close again due to a recent Santa Barbara County public health officer order.

Occupancies at the Radisson plummeted dramatically in March and April, as many leisure travelers were not visiting due to the cancellation of weddings, fundraisers and other events, said general manager Scott Shute.

Business is picking up, however, and the hotel was at 75% capacity last weekend, he said.

Vintner's Bar and Grill, the hotel's restaurant, temporarily switched to room service and to-go orders only but reopened its dining room once restrictions were lifted in early June.

The restaurant closed its dining room once again shortly before the July 4 weekend due to public health officer orders but still offers outdoor seating and a limited, 20-item menu, Shute said.

"Regulars were doing room service every time they stayed but came back down to the restaurant to feel normal again," he said.

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