Airline cancels services from SLO to Vegas, suspends Santa Barbara flights amid coronavirus
Update, 1:20 p.m. Wednesday
Contour Airlines also is suspending its service at the Santa Barbara Airport at the end of the month in response to the coronavirus pandemic, according to Noozhawk.
The airline has flights between Santa Barbara and Oakland, Sacramento and Las Vegas, using 30-seat Embraer-135 regional jets.
The last Contour flights connecting to Santa Barbara will be on March 29. The airline hopes to return service to Santa Barbara on July 1.
“As a smaller, regional air carrier, they cannot afford to fly nearly empty planes,” Deanna Zachrisson, the airport’s business development manager, told Noozhawk. “The loss of business to Las Vegas is particularly hard-hitting.”
Contour scrapped its Wednesday flight to Las Vegas because it had no passengers, Zachrisson told Noozhawk.
The only other change at the Santa Barbara Airport is United Airlines dropping its early morning flight to San Francisco, servicing mostly business travelers, Zachrisson said.
Original story:
The economic challenges of the coronavirus response have reached the San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport.
Contour Airlines is pulling out of the San Luis Obispo market after launching direct plane flights to Las Vegas in October 2019.
Citing reduced travel nationwide, and the disruption in air travel brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, Contour said its last day of operations at the airport will be March 30.
The airline had been providing nonstop flights to Las Vegas four times per week over the past few months.
“Service to the leisure destination proved popular, but sudden, severe travel reductions across the nation ultimately led Contour Airlines to pull out of the market,” the airport said in a news release.
“We firmly believe in the San Luis Obispo market and fully intend to resume service when public health and economic conditions allow us to do so,” Contour Airlines CEO Matthew Chaifetz said in the release.
Questions regarding the service reduction or individual travel itineraries can be directed to Contour Airlines, at contourairlines.com.
This story was originally published March 18, 2020 at 1:13 PM.
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