Contour Airlines begins San Luis Obispo service to Las Vegas

Travelers on the Central Coast have a new way to visit Las Vegas.

On Thursday, Contour Airlines began nonstop service to Sin City from the San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport.

It marks the first-ever flight at the airport for the Tennessee-based airline.

“It’s always great to add a new carrier. Bringing a fourth airline into our market just increases the options for travelers,” said airport director Kevin Bumen. ” We’ll see where we go from here, but as Contour continues to grow in California and the west coast, it could lead to other exciting opportunities.”

Contour will fly to San Luis Obispo four times a week, based around a weekend schedule.

It will fly in and out of the airport once each day on Thursday through Monday.

The flight reestablished service to Las Vegas, which has been missing from airport the past several years.

“When we’re starting new markets, we’re always looking at where people are going, where we have demand and where we should be working to increase our services and Las Vegas is certainly one of those cities,” said Bumen.

For the county, adding a Las Vegas flight provides an appealing opportunity to attract visitors from Southern Nevada.

“There is big demand for Vegas in this market,” said Visit SLO CAL President/CEO Chuck Davison. “We’ve been working and marketing in Las Vegas for the past couple of years trying to attract people here, not only through service that comes into the Central Coast, but drive traffic, but this is just one more opportunity for us to make it easier for those visitors to travel into our market.”

With the addition of Contour, San Luis Obispo now has four different carriers that are flying to seven different cities.

It continues an unprecedented roll for the airport, which has added new carriers and routes for the past couple of years.

Just last month, Alaska Airlines announced it was starting service to San Diego and Portland at the airport in 2020.

“We’re continuing to look at new opportunities, both with our existing carriers and potentially new carriers, so we will continue to grow the market in ways that are valuable to the community and interesting to potential visitors,” Bumen said. “That list gets shorter as we add markets, but if you look at what was here once upon a time, we had Salt Lake service. We had Sacramento service, so we look at those historical markets as a place where we could restore service working with the right carrier. Those seem to be the ones that pop up frequently when we talk to the public in what might be interesting to bring in.”

The quick 80-minute Contour flight leaves Las Vegas at 10:35 a.m. and lands in San Luis Obispo at 11:55 a.m.

The return flight from San Luis Obispo departs at 12:25 p.m. and arrives in Las Vegas at 1:45 p.m.

Base fares for the new service starts at $99 one way.

Contour will operate the 30-seat Embraer ERJ-135 aircraft between the two cities.

It will feature all leather seating with expanded legroom, complimentary snacks and beverages along with a free checked bag included with every fare.

The airline already flies to Santa Barbara Airport, providing service to Las Vegas, Sacramento and Oakland.

For more information, visit the Contour Airlines website.

KEYT 2019