By Camas Frank ~
Officials concerned with economic development in SLO County have been trying for years to get a route to Portland, Oregon from the San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport.
At the end of June they announced that they’ve gone the extra mile, literally, by securing a nonstop flight to Seattle, Wash. to start in April 2017.
For those looking to book a trip on Priceline, the new flight will be run by Alaska Airlines with nonstop service between San Luis Obispo (SBP) and Seattle (SEA).
Although it’s one of the longest trips to leave the airport, the flight clocks in at a manageable 2 hours and 35 minutes, enough to time to watch a movie and do a little typing without jet lag.
SLO County’s Director of Airports, Kevin Bumen allowed that the route acquisition was something of a coup for the organization if not a major victory. In addition to allowing local travelers a straight shot to the Pacific Northwest, the route connects into Alaska’s network.
“Seattle is their main hub,” Bumen explained, “They have 130 connections across their entire network and about 25 that couldn’t have been reached with any other stop.”
Seattle has also been in the “Top 5” list of in demand locations for SLO business travel, as determined by local surveyed and statistical studies.
In a statement released following the airport’s announcement event, Chuck Davison, President and CEO of Visit San Luis Obispo County, was quoted as saying, “The new Seattle service on Alaska Airlines is the most exciting tourism development since the passage of our Marketing District in 2015…”
Visit SLO County and the SLO Economic Development Corporation were both involved in securing the incentive package the airport put together to attract a new line. Visit SLO County in particular is responsible for destination marketing, an important element in letting Seattleites know they can get out of the rain and vacation at Pismo Beach in the near future.
The revenue guarantee offered up to Alaska Airline is also worth about $1 million, just to ensure that the set up costs aren’t a losing proposition.
When service does start up there will be some logistical details to work out on the ground. The SLO Airport is in the middle of building a new terminal. There isn’t much to see above ground a the moment, but crews have been busy laying the underground foundation for a fully modern facility to be completed in Summer 2017.
That’ll mean that the new line starts operations for a few months in the shadow of the new construction.
“We’re doing the best we can with the current terminal building,” Bumen said, “We can handle the launch in our current facilities but there are reasons a new one is being built.”
The expectation is for daily flights to begin April 13, 2017, departing SEA at 8:00 a.m., and arriving at SBP at 10:28 a.m. The outbound flight will leave SBP at 12:00pm and arrive at SEA at 2:35 p.m. The service will be operated through SkyWest Airlines using Embraer E175 aircraft, with 76 seats.
