Allegiant to add flight to Mesa, Arizona from Santa Maria Airport

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - The Santa Maria Public Airport announced a new commercial flight to Arizona. The new addition comes as more people are traveling again.

The airport announced a second Allegiant route, this time to the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. Currently, the only destination from Santa Maria is to Las Vegas, also on Allegiant.

Flights to Mesa will be twice a week. The first boarding flights will take off in November, just in time for the holidays. Tickets are already on sale.

Chris Hastert, general manager of the Santa Maria Public Airport, said that they are seeing more tourism flyers. "Those passengers have actually picked up a little bit faster than business travelers," he said.

Before the pandemic, Hastert said the airport was on track to have its best year ever.

United was supposed to start travel to San Francisco and Denver out of the airport. The pandemic has pushed their launch to march.

Hastert said the addition of flights shows the interest of airlines in the central coast, and in particular, in Santa Maria for the future.