Santa Maria Airport considering effort to reopen U.S. Customs office

SANTA MARIA, Calif. -- Santa Maria Public Airport leaders are considering whether or not to pursue a plan to reopen a United States Customs office at the facility.

"We are currently undergoing efforts to try and re-establish U.S. Customs facility at the Santa Maria Airport," said Santa Maria Public Airport General Manager Chris Hastert. "It is something the board voted to do and we actually applied with Customs. We went through a long process. We had to get a letter from the governor, so we submitted the application and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.

The airport's Board of Directors was scheduled to hear a presentation from a consultant at its regularly scheduled board meeting Thursday night.

However, the presentation has been pushed back two weeks.

A U.S. Customs office would allow international travelers to pass through customs in Santa Maria, rather than having to stop at a larger airport first.

"The Customs officer that would be here would be able to process private flights coming in from overseas, that could be Mexico, Canada, or even as far away as Asia," said Hastert. "When you clear customs with a private flight, you land at the nearest airport to the border. What this would allow is to get an overflight permit to allow them to come all the way to Santa Maria to process through customs. The difference is actually when you process through the border, there's no charge for that. If you came in here, because it's called user fee customs, they would have to pay a fee, but most people we've talked to would gladly pay that fee for the convenience of coming into their local airport."

Hastert said there are already a number of international business flights from Mexico and Canada that regularly use the airport, most of them are in the agriculture sector

A customs office would employ at least one United States Customs officer and would only be used for private flights, and not for commercial travel.

The annual cost would total around $200,000, which would be paid through the airport's yearly budget.

Santa Maria Public Airport previously had a U.S. Customs office, but closed it in 2009 due to increasing expenses and low revenue associated with the recession.

"It was closed down due to a limited amount of use back in 2009 during the recession, and so now, with the economy turned around, we have some local tenants that would like to use it," said Hastert.

Hastert said adding the office would benefit business interests in the Santa Maria Valley, allowing for easier entry into the area from foreign destinations.

"Theoretically, it could attract some businesses and help support our current agricultural businesses around the airport," said Hastert. "It would really expose (businesses) to Santa Maria. They can see what we have here to offer with space available, whether it would be here at airport, or in the adjacent community, so we're attracting some fairly large businesses into the airport that may not be familiar with Santa Maria as they should be."

Glenn Morris, Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce President and CEO agreed that a U.S. Customs office could be a major draw for the city.

"I think it just continues to raise the profile of the community and exposes us to different kinds of decision makers and people who may be looking for different kinds of solutions and and it gets Santa Maria in front of them," said Morris. "We're always trying to find ways to put Santa Maria on the map and get people aware of our community and this would be one more opportunity and one more tool that we would have to be able to explain to businesses why the ought to take a look at our community."

Hastert pointed out airport directors are interested with the idea, but are still trying to determine if now is the right time to push forward.

"If things are still lagging because of the pandemic, it may not be right time to push forward with this," said Hastert. "So it's really just that discussion to see if the timing is appropriate to bring back customs."

Like all airports, SMX has struggled during the pandemic.

However, even during the difficult period, which forced the postponement of new flight destinations to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Denver, the airport has still managed to expand.

In November, Allegiant Air began service to Mesa, Arizona, and is set to begin non-stop service to Portland in mid-April.

In September, United Airlines will begin non-stop service to Denver and San Francisco. The Los Angeles route has been eliminated.

"SMX is doing just fine," said Hastert. "We've had a lot of help from the federal government through the CARES Act, and most recently, through the stimulus package, where we are expecting a grant from that well, so our operations are doing well. We have a very diversified revenue stream."

Hastert is optimistic 2021 could be a bounce back here for commercial operations at the airporlt.

"Things are looking very good for us," said Hastert. We have more destinations than we've had in the past, and a couple more still to come, so if things progress the way it has been with vaccinations and people getting out there to travel, I think there's a lot of pent up demand for travel out there, so once people feel comfortable, hopefully, it will be one of our best years."

For viewing information on this week's airport Board of Directors meeting, click here.