Santa Maria Airport Opens New Runway

Santa Maria’s Airport now boasts the longest runway between San Jose and Los Angeles, measuring 8.000 feet long. City leaders gathered Friday to formally dedicate a project six years in the making.

Price for the project was $12 million. Airport administrators hope the improvement will attract larger airplanes with more service to more cities with lower fares.

Santa Maria’s mayor thinks it will open up more opportunities for the city.

“We’d love more people here and we’d love more people coming here on business too because we want more businesses to flourish,” Mayor Alice Patino said.

The airport also has a brand new $1 million fire truck, which will be prepared to respond to any emergency including one from larger planes that might be landing on the longer runway.