Alaska Airlines expands service and presence at Santa Rosa/Sonoma County

New nonstop flights arrive in time for summer holidays and fall harvest

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SEATTLE, April 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Alaska Airlines is increasing its service and commitment to Santa Rosa/Sonoma County with more nonstop flights between Southern California and the heart of wine country. Starting June 1, the airline will offer daily nonstop service between Santa Rosa/Sonoma County and Burbank. On Sept. 8, Alaska will add additional flights to both Orange County and San Diego.

https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/148...Santa_Rosa.jpg

With the additional flight to Hollywood Burbank Airport, the airline will have nonstop service to six destinations from Sonoma County: Burbank, Los Angeles, Portland, Orange County, San Diego and Seattle. By fall, Alaska will operate 13 peak day departures, including eight daily nonstop flights to Southern California airports.

"Sonoma County offers the perfect mix of stunning outdoor locales, acclaimed food and wine, and a vibrant cultural scene," said Brett Catlin, Alaska's vice president of network and alliances. "We're proud to better connect Southern California with Sonoma and look forward to welcoming guests with our award-winning service this summer."

Alaska was the first commercial airline to resume service to Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport in 2007. The airline has long been the airport's largest carrier. In 2019, three out of four passengers to Santa Rosa/Sonoma County flew on Alaska.

"We're grateful for the 14 years of commitment, growth and Alaska's outstanding service to the North Bay and the heart of wine country. Alaska recognizes the potential in our market and STS looks forward to many more years of a prosperous partnership," said Jon Stout, airport manager at Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport.

Tickets for all routes are available for purchase now at alaskaair.com.

When heading to Sonoma, Alaska's guests can take advantage of its Wine Flies Free program, which debuted in 2007 to make it easier for travelers to bring home their favorite bottles of wine from Santa Rosa/Sonoma County. Oftentimes, wineries are unable to ship cases directly or consumers are faced with costly shipping fees to transport wine. Alaska's Wine Flies Free solves those challenges by offering each Mileage Plan member the ability to check an entire case – up to 12 bottles of wine – for free.

The new route between Santa Rosa/Sonoma and Burbank will be served by the Embraer 175 jet, an aircraft with only window and aisle seating; there are no middle seats. Guests will enjoy award-winning service in a three-class cabin that includes First Class and Premium Class; hundreds of free movies and TV shows available for viewing on personal devices; free texting on most flights; and Wi-Fi connectivity for purchase.

About Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines and its regional partners serve more than 120 destinations across the United States and to Mexico, Canada and Costa Rica. The airline emphasizes Next-Level Care for its guests, along with providing low fares, award-winning customer service and sustainability efforts. On March 31, 2021, Alaska became the 14th member of oneworld. With the global alliance and Alaska Airlines' additional partners, guests can travel to more than 1,000 destinations on more than 20 airlines while earning and redeeming miles on flights to locations around the world. Learn more about Alaska at newsroom.alaskaair.com and blog.alaskaair.com. Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air are subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK).

One of these days I need to give STS a try!

I bet Avelo thought they had picked routes from Burbank that no other airline would fly. STS-BUR... the next great battle.

AS will now have a significantly bigger presence at STS than at OAK. 13 daily flights vs 7.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ucdtim17 (Post 33181921)

AS will now have a significantly bigger presence at STS than at OAK. 13 daily flights vs 7.

Happy for the STS area, but :(:mad::(

Wonder if it's in some response to Avelo.

Quote:

Originally Posted by StevenSeagalFan (Post 33182086)

Wonder if it's in some response to Avelo.

Not according to Brett Catlin, Alaska's vice president of network and alliances who said this to the press democrat

Catlin said Alaska had long aimed to introduce its Burbank flight, but that the plan was put on hold because of the pandemic.
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article...alifornia/amp/

However you might take this with a large helping of salt.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SNAnghbr (Post 33182221)

Yeah he's not going to admit it publicly haha, if they were evaluating STS-BUR, maybe Avelo just caused them to pull the trigger on it sooner. I still wonder if AS will drop a 737 in there one day.

Quote:

Originally Posted by StevenSeagalFan (Post 33182324)

Yeah he's not going to admit it publicly haha, if they were evaluating STS-BUR, maybe Avelo just caused them to pull the trigger on it sooner. I still wonder if AS will drop a 737 in there one day.

Yes, that is classic CYA for predatory behavior. Just as believable as the secret plan (that nobody at AS even knew about) to take over VX and make STS the new focus of its bay area operations...LOL

Quote:

Originally Posted by sfozrhfco (Post 33182658)

Yes, that is classic CYA for predatory behavior. Just as believable as the secret plan (that nobody at AS even knew about) to take over VX and make STS the new focus of its bay area operations...LOL

When AS/QX was the only carrier at STS I was like, how long can this last before the secret gets out? AS was printing cash there and then the other airlines finally got wise. It still does extremely well for Airgroup.

Quote:

Originally Posted by StevenSeagalFan (Post 33182086)

Wonder if it's in some response to Avelo.

Yes, they will response. It’s a competitive. That’s for sure!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ucdtim17 (Post 33181921)

AS will now have a significantly bigger presence at STS than at OAK. 13 daily flights vs 7.

How about a retaliatory response to double daily WN OAK-EUG? OAK-BLI likely coming soon as well, which will be further WN inroads into AS territory. WN at OAK is the one opponent to whom AS is forever supine. Full surrender on Hawaii and then no attempt at anything else.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ucdtim17 (Post 33183021)

Cause OAK is a spoke in the AS system and it would be cheaper to take a couple of pallets of cash, douse them in jet fuel and set them on fire than to try and retaliate against the 80%+ WN market share at OAK.
https://www.google.com/search?q=oak+...e-gws-wiz-serp

Quote:

Originally Posted by SNAnghbr (Post 33183056)

Cause OAK is a spoke in the AS system and it would be cheaper to take a couple of pallets of cash, douse them in jet fuel and set them on fire than to try and retaliate against the 80+ WN market share at OAK.
https://www.google.com/search?q=oak+...e-gws-wiz-serp

Retaliate? AS was there years before WN even started to LUV Oakland. T2 was PS and OC, T1 was everyone else. I know that I'm going way back in time, but WN came in, and pretty much everyone rolled over without even trying, save "Shuttle by United" which didn't last very long. AS was even flying Qs to the Pac NW for a time. Really? (No need to answer my Really?) AS dabbled with SNA post WN, but with such limited frequency for a business market that it wasn't worth the trouble. It is really a shame, but it is what it is, pretty much every airline has done the same, and that's the plight of us Eastbayers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SNAnghbr (Post 33183056)

Yes it's a spoke, but so is BUR, STS, and every other airport that isn't SEA, PDX, SFO, LAX, SAN and SJC. It's also in the center of a market that, recently at least, was a market in which AS was trying to make a splash and grow (extensive post-acquisition marketing seems to have tailed off, along with service, more or less, at Bay Area airports). That 80% market share is not an independent variable here - it's also a product of AS declining to compete.

(This is mostly sour grapes)

Quote:

Originally Posted by PDXpress (Post 33181862)

I bet Avelo thought they had picked routes from Burbank that no other airline would fly. STS-BUR... the next great battle.

BUR-STS is much better than LAX-STS, especially when things pick back up. With the overhead of getting in and out of LAX, and the frequency and timing of flights, it's been arguable whether it's more convenient for me to fly or drive. Avelo and AS both have better schedules out of BUR than AS out of LAX, it's fast to get in and out of the airport at both ends, and it's super cheap. As long as AS will keep it up, I'll stick with them for a couple reasons a) EQM, b) bicycles fly as regular luggage (i.e. free for me).

I can see both airlines finding ways to do do cheap overnight or weekend wine tour packages. Kind of a pain if you have to deal with LAX and aren't a frequent flyer, but if you're a casual flyer who's been cooped up in LA for a year, a weekend at a B&B and wine tour for a couple hundred bucks per person, all included, sounds pretty good.