North Bay air travel options are more plentiful than you may think.
Do you cherish a happy dream of a future when you can avoid the congested freeway and the rats-in-a-maze approaches, nightmarish parking environment and zoo-like security check-ins at SFO and Oakland International, and instead fly from a small, comfortable airport near your home or business in the North Bay? If so, your dream may soon be reality.
It’s already here for those who can afford their own plane or charter flight, or whose destination is one of a short list of western cities. For the rest of us, the dream could come true sooner than you think.
The Charles M. Schulz – Sonoma County Airport (STS) is the largest in the North Bay and the only one that currently offers scheduled commercial flights. Passengers can take nonstop Alaska Airlines flights to and from four West Coast cities. Why fly from a local airport? “The biggest advantage is convenience. You avoid the two-hour commute and there’s less traffic. In San Francisco, you can’t park that close, but our closest lot is less than 50 feet away from the terminal. With limited flights and not that many people it’s easy to check in. It’s a very convenient and quick process,” says Jon Stout, airport manager for Sonoma County.
In August, the Sonoma County Airport broke ground on a major runway improvement project. Officials hope that when the project is finished, it will attract airlines that fly to additional cities and hub airports, making it easier to connect with the rest of the world from the North Bay.
Next most prominent in the area is the Napa County Airport, followed by a surprising number of small public airports in Cloverdale, Healdsburg, Petaluma and other parts of Sonoma and Napa counties; and the Marin County Airport in Novato, Gnoss Field. Add an additional 15 private airports to the tally. The popularity of all these local airports is growing as highways become more congested and as more and more people want to visit the North Bay to experience the beauty of the Napa and Sonoma wine regions as well as the area’s other attractions and businesses.
Hometown expansion
Beginning with free parking for the first two hours in the short-term lot, STS gives off a comfortable vibe. Its lengthy name was adopted after Schulz’s death in 2000, in honor of the “Peanuts” cartoonist who lived in Sonoma County for more than 40 years and contributed to many county improvements. In the airport terminal, much is made of the “Peanuts” connection, from sculptures of the comic strip characters to a “Lucy”-style booth offering information for “5 cents,” manned during flight hours by volunteers.
The airport’s current daily nonstop Alaska Airlines flights (operated by Horizon Air) to and from Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles and San Diego—from which passengers can transfer to flights to any worldwide location—are made with 76-seat, twin-engine turboprop aircraft. These flights are increasing in popularity. More than 150,500 passengers passed through STS from January through August 2013, a 6.8 percent improvement over the previous year-to-date.
“The passenger list is 50-50 local people versus inbound,” says Stout. This means tourists aren’t the only ones using STS, although they make up an important segment of the airport’s traffic (as well as of the county’s economy).
“The last numbers, from when we had five flights per day with Horizon Air, said the airport’s economic impact was $100 million, direct and indirect. It meant 414 jobs, including additional people for restaurants, hotels and tourism venues. Our tenants contribute more than $1.4 million per year in tax revenue to the county,” Stout says. Looking ahead to a post-runway expansion future, “We did a calculation for 12 daily flights and came up with $282 million and 893 jobs,” he says.
Today, there are generally six flights per day, Stout says. Some are continuing connecting flights, such as the 11:35 a.m. flight for Portland, which arrives from San Diego and continues on to Seattle. The flights are distributed throughout the day, with the earliest coming in at 6:30 a.m. and last departing at 6:05 p.m.
Construction was scheduled to begin in early September on the airport’s $53.8 million runway improvement project, which is designed to increase airport safety by lengthening its runways. The main runway will be increased from 5,115 feet to 6,000 feet, and it will be made safer by separating it from the secondary runway, which will also be lengthened by 200 feet. The project, which officials say generated four feet of environmental impact report documents over more than 12 years of planning, is scheduled for completion in October 2014. Officials hope that the longer and safer runways will attract major airlines that will fly directly to and from additional locations such as Denver, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Orange County and Las Vegas.
Making room for future increased activity, STS completed a terminal remodeling project in 2010 that added almost 5,000 square feet to the previously existing terminal, expanding it by about one third. In addition, the airport is working on another remodel of the terminal building to add additional airline counters and more space in the passenger hold room. The additional 3,500 square feet is currently under design with construction completion anticipated in spring 2015.
These expansions are part of a continuing history that began in 1939, when the county purchased 339 acres of agricultural land and began constructing the first runway. Like many of the North Bay’s airports, it was used and expanded by the U.S. Army during World War II, starting in 1941. Called the Santa Rosa Army Airfield at the time, it was used to train fighter groups and squadrons. According to the airport’s website, as many as 500 aircraft and 10,000 personnel were based there. Two hangars constructed by the Army are still in use.
In addition to its scheduled Alaska Air offerings, the airport is busy with a number of other operations including air cargo, private and corporate flights, military, search and rescue, firefighting and law enforcement flights, as well as pilot training.
Cargo flights include UPS and FedEx, which make one to three flights per day using small Cessna Caravan aircraft, says Stout. Last year, the shipping companies moved 1.3 million pounds of cargo, mostly outbound. Stout says negotiations are underway regarding opening limited formal cargo operations with Alaska Airlines: “Probably next year.”
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire, flies a spotter plane and two tankers from STS when needed. The County Sheriff’s Department has a helicopter installation there, and the Redwood Empire Air Ambulance (REACH) makes emergency air ambulance flights from this and other North Bay airports. A helicopter training school and an aircraft flight training school also operate at the airport.
Once passengers arrive, they often want to view Sonoma County by car. Five rental car operations are based at the airport, doing a total of $4 million in business annually, Stout says.
Speakers at the August groundbreaking ceremony for the Runway Safety Improvement Project applauded the airport’s current and potential contributions to Sonoma County. County Supervisor Mike McGuire, whose district includes STS, pointed out that the airport brings hundreds of millions of dollars to the local economy. Jonathan Coe, president/CEO of the Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce, added that increased air service will make Santa Rosa more attractive to large companies, which want to locate in an area where they have the ability to move employees and customers. Pointing to Sonoma County’s 2012 designation as “the number one wine district in the United States and number two in the world” by TripAdvisor, Kenneth Fischang, president/CEO of Sonoma County Tourism, said the airport helps contribute to the county’s 7.5 million visitors per year, who bring “$1.5 billion to our economy and $95 million in taxes and provides more than 17,000 jobs for Sonoma County residents. This translates to lower property taxes and a better quality of life for all Sonoma County residents.” These numbers are expected to increase after the project’s completion.
What a relief
Napa County Airport (APC) has no scheduled commercial flights but does everything else an airport might do. Located in the unincorporated Airport Industrial Area between the cities of Napa and American Canyon, it’s a general aviation airport that offers charter services and serves people who own or hire aircraft. It’s a reliever airport, meaning that it relieves the congestion at Oakland International (OAK), located nearby across the bay, by providing additional general aviation access, thus enhancing OAK’s ability to dispatch its scheduled flights.
“We’re a corporate traffic access point. We’re the closest airport to Sonoma Raceway. [On race weekends] we may have 80 corporate jets flying in. We also have medical flights and CHP units stationed here,” says Martin Pehl, manager of Napa County Airport.
The CHP Air Operations Unit based at APC provides aviation support services—including law enforcement support, search and rescue, and emergency medical services—to public safety agencies throughout the Bay Area. In addition, Pehl says, several hundred privately owned aircraft are based at APC for business and recreational purposes. In short, this general aviation public airport has everything except commercial flights and a terminal. To borrow Gertrude Stein’s phrase about Oakland, “There is no there there.”
“Most people think of an airport as a terminal building,” says Pehl. But he doesn’t see it that way. “Take commercial flights away, and you’re left with the actual airport,” he explains, pointing at a large aerial photo showing APC’s runways and control tower. “That’s the airport.”
According to its website, APC tenants provide 406 jobs with a total income of $18.4 million annually and generate $2.3 million annually in property taxes, of which nearly 83 percent supports Napa Valley schools.
APC was originally developed to serve as part of the defense against a possible Japanese invasion of the West Coast during World War II. The land was purchased by the county, and the original runways and taxiways were constructed by the U.S. Department of War. By the time this work was finished, it was 1944 and the war was nearly over. In 1945, the airport improvements were turned over to the county as a public use airport. In 1952, Southwest Airlines began commuter service from Napa to San Francisco, but this operation ended in less than a year when a fire destroyed the administration building and it was never restored.
Starting in the 1971, APC served as a training facility for Japan Airlines. “For 40 years, nearly every pilot for Japan Airlines spent his first two years in Napa,” says Pehl. “They closed the facility as part of their bankruptcy [in 2010].” According to the airport’s website, more than 2,500 JAL captains and first officers were trained at Napa County Airport. “We’re hopeful that we may soon have a new tenant to provide private training for commercial pilots,” Pehl says. “There’s a lot of demand, particularly in Asia.”
A little bit of everything
The Marin County Airport, Gnoss Field (DVO), located just north of Novato, is a small reliever, general aviation airport and the site of multiple activities. It’s the nearest public use airport between San Francisco and the North Bay Wine Country, thus bringing a lot of traffic from pilots flying both for business and for pleasure. The site has parking space for 310 aircraft, and nearly 300 are hangared there.
“We do a little of everything,” says Dan Jensen, airport manager. Counting off the airport’s uses, he lists “recreational pilots, flight training, aircraft fuel, sales and maintenance; warbird and aerobatic flights; air charter service; avionics sales, installations and service; business travel; traffic observation; the sheriff’s patrol, emergency medical helicopter and aircraft flights; and angel flights.” (Angel flights are non-emergency transports of sick or injured people from one hospital to another one that’s better able to help their particular condition. Private pilots donate their time and their planes for this work, leading to the name “angel flights.”)
The beginnings of DVO were first constructed on reclaimed saltwater tidal marshlands in the 1940s, when William Wright, who owned the property, built a private grass landing strip. He then tried unsuccessfully to sell it to the county for $1,000 per acre. In 1947, two former military pilots opened a flight training school on the site, but they were forced to close the school in 1949 due to changing regulations.
In 1965, the county bought the field and surrounding land, aided by federal funding. They called it Gnoss field after William Gnoss, a North Marin supervisor who promoted expanding aviation in the area.
Unlike the Sonoma and Napa county airports, DVO was never part of the World War II effort. Instead, Hamilton Air Force Base, also located in Novato, filled this role. After years of military use, Hamilton Field was closed to aviation and is now the site of numerous civilian uses, from wetland restoration to housing and offices.
Peppered with private airports
Other North Bay public use airports include Cloverdale, Healdsburg and Petaluma Municipal airports, Sonoma Valley/Schellville Airport and Sonoma Skypark in Sonoma County; and Angwin-Parrett Field Airport and Lake Berryessa Seaplane Base in Napa County. In addition, there are 15 private airports scattered throughout the area.
Many of these private airports have specific dedicated uses, such as medical transport. For example, Redwood Coast Medical Services has a heliport in Gualala; Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital has a heliport; Queen of the Valley Hospital has a heliport in Napa. Some, such as the Commodore Center Seaplane Base in Sausalito, provide visitors with a bird’s eye view of the beautiful North Bay. Others are gateways to specific locations, such as the heliport at Sonoma Raceway and the Sea Ranch Airport.
Air travel is like magic, transporting you from one location to another almost instantly. “Airplanes are basically time machines,” is the way Martin Pehl sees it. If you can avoid the congestion and waiting in long lines at that other airport, “you could be in Southern California in less than two hours.” Fly from a North Bay airport and it’s within your reach.
