An impressive gathering of South Coast business and political leaders met July 21 to map out a strategy for restoring direct service from Santa Barbara’s airport to San Jose.
 

This service is critical to meeting the needs of the region’s technology industry, and SkyWest Airlines’ decision to suspend the service earlier this summer did the region no favors on the economic development front.

Two things must be said at this point: First, the likelihood of SkyWest/United Express coming back is highly remote. Second, SkyWest’s sky-high fares for late booking passengers were a big part of the reason that flights rarely went out with a 50 percent or higher load.

The airport and its consultants are making a full-court press to find a new carrier, so that folks aren’t encouraged to drive to Burbank and fly for peanuts on Southwest.

Very soon there will be a survey going out as well as a request for expressions of financial support for flights. If you want to participate, you can find the survey under the button “Doing Business with SBA” at www.flysba.com.

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