The Santa Barbara Airport is adding daily flights to Oakland and Las Vegas, airport officials announced Aug. 27.

Contour Airlines will operate the 30-passenger jets to and from Oakland and Las Vegas starting on Oct. 16. Fares for the destinations have not been announced.

The new service will bring the airport’s direct flight destinations total to nine, including Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Phoenix, San Francisco and Seattle.

The airport has seen a steady increase in airport traffic, said Erinn Lynch, a spokeswoman for the airport, and if the new flights start selling out, she said the airport may attract other carriers.

“There’s a very diverse carrier roster now,” Lynch said, noting that the airport has both low-cost regional airlines and larger airlines, such as Alaska Frontier. “Ultimately, what the airport wants is for local travelers to start using Santa Barbara for their local airport of choice versus spending all the time and hassle flying out of LAX.”

The airport, operated by the city of Santa Barbara, is “on pace to serve approximately 738,000 passengers in 2018 and is the largest airport between Los Angeles and San Jose on the California coast,” according to a news release.

• Contact Annabelle Blair at ablair@pacbiztimes.com.