Santa Maria airport will make progress as usual with plans for its long-awaited airport business park, despite losing service from its only major airline, United Airlines.
When the airport began working with United about a year and a half ago, the carrier offered service to and from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). But last May, the airline switched its Santa Maria service to San Francisco, which didn’t get as much business as the LAX flights did.
General Manager Chris Hastert told the Sun that United’s stopping its services was unfortunate but not entirely unforeseen. Issues with the airline were rooted primarily in fares, which didn’t compete well with San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport and Santa Barbara Municipal Airport, which both offer daily flights to and from San Francisco.
United’s Santa Maria fares were also set in a way that didn’t allow the military to use it, Hastert said. This excluded any potential patronage from Vandenberg Air Force Base.
“We did see the performance was not doing well on those flights. We were working with United on trying to make some changes, but unfortunately they didn’t work with us,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that United is pulling out. We’ve been trying to work with them for quite a while now.”
When United flights discontinue from Santa Maria on Oct. 6, the airport’s last remaining services will be Allegiant Air flights to Las Vegas—unless airport officials can strike a deal with another major airline before then, Hastert said.
“We’ve reached out to all the major carriers at this point, excluding United, obviously,” Hastert said.
Aside from Delta, SkyWest, Alaska, and American airlines, the airport is also hoping to strike a deal with Mokulele Airlines for flights to LAX. Mokulele, a Hawaii-based airline, is looking to expand further into California.
“We’re just taking it one meeting at a time,” he said.
As Hastert works to fill the gaps left by United, the airport business park should move forward as planned, he said. The business park, which was initially proposed in the 1980s and has been in the works since then, will span 224 acres and include zoning for both commercial and retail elements.
“It’s really a mixed-use area that’s going to be a major area to be developed in the city of Santa Maria,” Hastert said.
He said that because the business park is non-aviation land, it shouldn’t be affected by the airport’s relationships with air carriers—and it might even help bring costs down on bringing in a new airline, in the long run.
“The only negative could be if a business was looking that needed good connections around the country or around the world,” Hastert said. In that case, lacking a major air carrier could affect the business park’s success.
Hastert said that while the airport is “making forward progress” with the park, it’s been hung up on biological issues that have slowed the process. The original plan was proposed decades ago, and the most recent revision approved by the county in 2008, but part of the park land was listed as critical habitat for the endangered California tiger salamander.
Though the park itself is slated for a 224-acre space, the overall project encompasses 740 acres. According to the July 2015 Business Park Specific Plan Biological Assessment, “190.32 acres of suitable [California Tiger Salamander] upland refuge habitat within the Action Area would be permanently impacted by development of the varied land use designations.”
The assessment said the project plan took actions to avoid, minimize, and compensate for impacts to the salamanders’ habitat. Such actions include avoiding and buffering breeding sites from development, preserving and managing salamander habitats in the area, and not using pesticides or herbicides in the conservation lands around breeding ponds.
“We’ve been in some final negotiations with Fish and Wildlife to have a few changes done,” Hastert said.
For example, the initial plans for the park showed a golf course in the middle of it, but the airport has since removed that part of the plan to avoid unwanted competition with nearby golf courses.
Overall, Hastert said he’s optimistic for the future of the Santa Maria Airport.
“[United has] been a good airline serving Santa Maria, but with the fare and non-competitive rates, I’m hoping this will be a blessing in disguise and we’ll be able to find another airline,” he said.
Brenna Swanston can be reached at bswanston@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Sep 8-15, 2016.