United Announces Santa Maria Return and More New San Francisco Service

Albert Kuan
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Edited By:

Ryan Ewing

United aircraft at San Francisco International Airport (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Ben Suskind)
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Key Takeaways:

United will be adding additional service out of its San Francisco hub for the upcoming summer travel season. In addition to the new services, the Star Alliance carrier will restart flights out of Santa Maria Airport (SMX) on California’s Central Coast through its regional United Express brand (SkyWest).

Beginning June 4, 2020, United will introduce new daily flights from San Francisco to Santa Maria Airport and a new seasonal daily flight to Milwaukee (MKE).  The service to Milwaukee departs San Francisco at 10:51 p.m., arriving in Milwaukee at 5:08 a.m. The return flight leaves Milwaukee at 7:00 a.m., arriving back at 9:37 a.m. The service will be operated by the airline’s Airbus A319 jet. Southwest also flies the route seasonally and is the only competitor for United for this route.

Growing its California regional network, United is making a return to Santa Maria Airport serving flyers out of Santa Maria and Santa Barbara County, a region well-known for its regional wineries and barbeque. The airport will be exclusively served by United Express’s 50-seat Bombardier CRJ-200 jets operating daily to three of United’s hub cities: Los Angeles, San Francisco and Denver.

The new service of out of Santa Maria Airport, “provides travelers with a brand new option to get to California’s Central Coast and connects Santa Maria to the world with hundreds of domestic and international destinations from the airline’s hubs in Denver, Los Angeles, and San Francisco,” according to a tweet from Santa Maria Airport.

United Express previously served Santa Maria flying Embraer EMB-120’s and Canadair regional jets to Los Angeles and San Francisco. It pulled out of the airport and ceased operations in March 2015. The airline had continuously operated at the airport since the late 1980s, and since United’s departure, the local airport has only offered flights to and from Las Vegas, NV through Allegiant.

Albert Kuan

Most people hate long flights or overnight layovers, but Albert loves them. The airport and flying parts of traveling are the biggest highlights of any trip for him – as this avgeek always gets a thrill from sampling different airline cabin products and checking out regional developments happening at local U.S. airports. He’s flown on almost every major carrier in the U.S. and Asia Pacific, and he hopes to try out the new A350s soon. Albert recently completed his undergraduate studies in Business Accounting at USC in Los Angeles and he is currently recruiting for a corporate analyst position at one of the U.S. legacy carriers. During his college years, he interned at LAX for Los Angeles World Airports working behind-the-scenes (and on the ramp) in public relations and accounting. Outside of writing for AirlineGeeks, he enjoys trekking the Hollywood hills, visiting new hotspots throughout SoCal, and doing the occasional weekender on Spirit Airlines.

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