SANTA BARBARA AIRPORT

HISTORY:

Santa Barbara's aviation history began in 1914 when Lincoln Beachey flew an airplane across Goleta Valley. Two years later the Loughead Brothers, who later changed their name to Lockheed, established a seaplane factory on State Street and constructed a wooden ramp on West Beach to launch their planes. In 1928, Gordon Sackett and Royce Stetson landed a Hisso-powered airplane in a cow pasture near the corner of Hollister and Fairview Avenues and set up a flight school on the spot. That first airstrip marked the beginning of what was to become the Santa Barbara Municipal Airport.

As airplane manufacturing grew in the late 1930s that simple airstrip developed into an airfield. Western General set up shop and began producing Meteor airplanes, while Santa Barbara Airways' founder Frederick Stearns II built two additional runways and two large hangars. Stearns also installed the first radio equipment at the airfield.

Commercial service began in 1932 with Pacific Seaboard Airlines, and United Airlines inaugurated service from Santa Barbara/Goleta in 1936.

As the prospect of war escalated the United States Government established a defense program to construct 250 airports across the country on a cost-sharing basis with local governments. T.M. Storke secured Santa Barbara's enrollment in the program, and in 1941 groundbreaking ceremonies were held for the Santa Barbara Municipal Airport. The Spanish-style terminal building, commissioned by United Airlines in 1942 was designed by William Edwards and Joseph Plunkett, an architectural team whose work, including the Arlington Theatre and the National Armory, helped shape the Mediterranean style of the city.

In 1947, the Santa Barbara Flying Club was formed to promote general aviation in the region. The club is still going strong as a registered non-profit meeting monthly at the Visitor Center, and working with other groups and businesses to continue making Santa Barbara a great place to fly.

In the 1951 war film Flying Leathernecks, John Wayne's character was stationed in Goleta. The movie references the airbase as being in Goleta because, during World War II, the airbase had not yet been annexed by Santa Barbara. There is a short clip of the airport and surrounding area in the movie.

Three runways are currently used: 7/25 and two parallel runways 15/33. In addition to these runways, the airport originally had an additional strip: runway 3/21. The development of the University of California, Santa Barbara (to the southwest) and the construction of hangars in support of production of the Aero Spacelines Super Guppy (to the northeast) were factors in the abandonment and eventual removal of this runway.

Santa Barbara Airport's commercial airline operations have have experienced frequent change over the past decade. The airport's only recent mainline (flight) service using large jets was operated by United Airlines, who flew Boeing 737 aircraft from Santa Barbara to San Francisco until 2002 when mainline service was replaced by smaller regional airline aircraft. Beginning in 2007, regional airline ExpressJet provided non-stop service from Santa Barbara to several destinations including San Diego and Sacramento. Although popular, ExpressJet's service to Santa Barbara ended with the national demise of their branded operations in September 2008. ExpressJet's non-stop service to Sacramento was so popular that Horizon Air subsequently took over the route to Santa Barbara. The airport was also one of the last in American Eagle's national route network to use the Saab 340 before the aircraft was completely retired from the airline's fleet in late 2008. American Eagle now operates the Embraer Regional Jet between Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, and the Canadair Regional Jet between Santa Barbara and Dallas Forth Worth, although the airline has announced that non-stop flights to Dallas will end in April 2009.

 
STATS:

     -  SBA is a small hub airport with 180,000 annual aircraft operations of commercial and general aviation flights

     -  Five commercial airlines serve nine major non-stop cities and over 200 one-stop destinations

     -  194 Santa Barbara based private aircraft valued at more than $150 million are served by two fixed-based operators and thirty aviation service companies

      -  The airport consists of 954 acres of property which over 100 acres is devoted industrial/commercial use with 76 buildings leased to 120 tenants

     -  The airport is owned and operated by the City of Santa Barbara.  It is completely self-supporting and debt-free with funds generated from user fees and tenant rents.  No local tax dollars are used in the operation, maintenance or capital improvement of the Airport.  As a vital economic contributor to the area the Airport has an annual impact of more than a half billion dollars

 

Destinations served by SBA
     - Denver
     - Salt Lake City 
     - Phoenix
     - Los Angeles
     - San Francisco
     - Portland
     - Las Vegas
     - Seattle

 - San Jose - Sacramento


 

Fog moving in and covering half of the airport