Straight from Kirby:

https://www.sfgate.com/chris-mcginnis/a ... 762966.php

Announced a few weeks ago.

STS is offering money for an eastbound hub link (a long time goal and pending SCASD grant)

LAXintl wrote:

Announced a few weeks ago.

STS is offering money for an eastbound hub link (a long time goal and pending SCASD grant)

When was this announcement? I can't find it anywhere except the article I sourced.

I don't think SCASD money is being used for this, according to the airport's meeting minutes:

"Stout met with United. The load factor has averaged 58%. They reported that more passengers are
coming to Sonoma County as a destination than are connecting to outbound flights from SFO. They are
still analyzing service to Denver. Since Denver was referenced in the 2011 Small Community Air
Service Grant application, it cannot be approved as part of the current call for grant applications"

Source: https://sonomacountyairport.org/wp-cont ... -18-18.pdf

BRING IT ON

I understand the wisdom of the SFO connection but DEN makes a ton of sense for a lot of east bound traffic to avoid double connections for North Bay passengers.

Hopefully it will be E175 service since its unlikely to be mainline at first. Looking at the CRJ 200 (which flies the SFO route) range charts, it might be able to do this route but that stage length would not be pleasant. It would use a lot of runway though at Denver!

loisencroach wrote:

LAXintl wrote:

Announced a few weeks ago.
STS is offering money for an eastbound hub link (a long time goal and pending SCASD grant)

When was this announcement? I can't find it anywhere except the article I sourced.
I don't think SCASD money is being used for this, according to the airport's meeting minutes:
"Stout met with United. The load factor has averaged 58%. They reported that more passengers are
coming to Sonoma County as a destination than are connecting to outbound flights from SFO. They are
still analyzing service to Denver. Since Denver was referenced in the 2011 Small Community Air
Service Grant application, it cannot be approved as part of the current call for grant applications"
Source: https://sonomacountyairport.org/wp-cont ... -18-18.pdf

The current SCASD grant application from STS was only for Denver service. No other cities mentioned
http://www.regulations.gov/document?D=DOT-OST-2017-0155-0044

It sounds to me like the airport is saying their current SCASD application was already rejected due to Denver being part of the 2011 application.

It was announced internally, and the community was providing UA support to help establish the long desired DEN link.

Wondering why DL hasn't considered SLC yet. STS had a nice little bump in air service over the past year.

evank516 wrote:

Wondering why DL hasn't considered SLC yet. STS had a nice little bump in air service over the past year.

They weren't in discussions with DL as of January 2017 but things change. DL doesn't do MRY-SLC which is a similar market.

loisencroach wrote:

evank516 wrote:

Wondering why DL hasn't considered SLC yet. STS had a nice little bump in air service over the past year.

They weren't in discussions with DL as of January 2017 but things change. DL doesn't do MRY-SLC which is a similar market.

And I'm not saying that it's can't happen. I'm just saying that there are two markets in CA (SBA, MRY) with more enplanements than STS that don't have DL to SLC. The two markets below STS in enplanements, SBP and BFL, don't have DL to Salt Lake either. I honestly never thought I'd see the day when STS would have more enplanements than BFL.

loisencroach wrote:

loisencroach wrote:

evank516 wrote:

Wondering why DL hasn't considered SLC yet. STS had a nice little bump in air service over the past year.

They weren't in discussions with DL as of January 2017 but things change. DL doesn't do MRY-SLC which is a similar market.

And I'm not saying that it's can't happen. I'm just saying that there are two markets in CA (SBA, MRY) with more enplanements than STS that don't have DL to SLC. The two markets below STS in enplanements, SBP and BFL, don't have DL to Salt Lake either. I honestly never thought I'd see the day when STS would have more enplanements than BFL.

Didn't DL fly to some of these in the past though?

This is great news! I travel frequently out of SFO to all east coast destinations despite only living 20 minutes from STS.

My fingers are crossed that this service comes to fruition. Will SFO-STS be cancelled in place of STS-DEN? Or will both operate...

SFO service will be cancelled in favor of DEN. I fervently hope it won't be a CRJ200 on the route but who knows!

It would be nice if service were twice daily...though I doubt that will be the case. Good thing Elway's at DIA is one of my favorite layover spots.

This service cannot come soon enough!

It makes sense. When flow control at SFO happens, UA usually flies STS more often than not, and cancels flights even further away (e.g. SMF, FAT, SBA, Redding, etc). It seems unfair that STS gets the red carpet treatment, so might as well get rid of them.

brian415 wrote:

It makes sense. When flow control at SFO happens, UA usually flies STS more often than not, and cancels flights even further away (e.g. SMF, FAT, SBA, Redding, etc). It seems unfair that STS gets the red carpet treatment, so might as well get rid of them.

It's easier to reroute people out of those other airports than it is out of STS. (Well, not RDD.)

[quote="evank516"][quote="loisencroach"][quote="loisencroach"]

Didn't DL fly to some of these in the past though?[/quote"]

SkyWest IIRC.

DL tried both MRY and BFL to Salt Lake, and I believe SBA as well.

evank516 wrote:

Wondering why DL hasn't considered SLC yet. STS had a nice little bump in air service over the past year.

I believe STS put a cap on the number of airlines serving the airport due to lack of space. But that happened when G4 was still serving STS.

UA doesn't even run E175's on all of it's existing routes from CA to DEN so I wouldn't be surprised if STS didn't immediately see them. I've seen a lot of SFO routes this summer getting upgauged to E175's, but the fleet isn't growing so they are coming from somewhere. SBA and FAT are 4x CRJ to DEN this summer, BFL 2x CRJ 200, SBP 1x CRJ 1xCR7, PSP 1x CRJ 2x E75. Even SJC and SMF drop down to CR7's on the route on certain frequencies.

wedgetail737 wrote:

evank516 wrote:

Wondering why DL hasn't considered SLC yet. STS had a nice little bump in air service over the past year.

I believe STS put a cap on the number of airlines serving the airport due to lack of space. But that happened when G4 was still serving STS.

I heard that too

ericm2031 wrote:

UA doesn't even run E175's on all of it's existing routes from CA to DEN so I wouldn't be surprised if STS didn't immediately see them. I've seen a lot of SFO routes this summer getting upgauged to E175's, but the fleet isn't growing so they are coming from somewhere. SBA and FAT are 4x CRJ to DEN this summer, BFL 2x CRJ 200, SBP 1x CRJ 1xCR7, PSP 1x CRJ 2x E75. Even SJC and SMF drop down to CR7's on the route on certain frequencies.

It is a little odd that UA uses mainline to operate one FAT-SFO, one SMF-SFO, and two BUR-SFO, but then uses CRJ-200's and 700's on quite a few frequencies between those cities and DEN. I didn't realize that FAT-DEN had gone all CR2, aside from a single DEN-FAT (one way) on the E175: there has been at least one CR7 or E175 operating round-trip on that route for the past few years, with two or even three for short periods, and it's interesting that UA has chosen to instead throw one E175 on FAT-LAX and one E175 on FAT-SFO, completely eliminating the CR7 from FAT and almost completely eliminating premium seating between FAT and DEN for the summer. I'm guessing this is an equipment availability thing? If so, STS's a/c choice would be a total toss-up between the three fleet types...

Any possibility that UA would expand STS to include DEN...and not completely drop SFO?

wedgetail737 wrote:

Any possibility that UA would expand STS to include DEN...and not completely drop SFO?

Only if they also decide to operate the SFO-STS flight(s) on a 737/A320!

ericm2031 wrote:

UA doesn't even run E175's on all of it's existing routes from CA to DEN so I wouldn't be surprised if STS didn't immediately see them. I've seen a lot of SFO routes this summer getting upgauged to E175's, but the fleet isn't growing so they are coming from somewhere. SBA and FAT are 4x CRJ to DEN this summer, BFL 2x CRJ 200, SBP 1x CRJ 1xCR7, PSP 1x CRJ 2x E75. Even SJC and SMF drop down to CR7's on the route on certain frequencies.

wedgetail737 wrote:

evank516 wrote:

Wondering why DL hasn't considered SLC yet. STS had a nice little bump in air service over the past year.

I believe STS put a cap on the number of airlines serving the airport due to lack of space. But that happened when G4 was still serving STS.

I heard that too

A lot more CR2s are coming to Untied Express. A lot more E75s are not (for now). United can watch how many passengers with Sonoma county addresses on their Mileage Plus accounts drive across the Bridge and through the city to get to SFO for a mainline non-stop! I would not be among them, if STS-DEN prices are fair.

OzarkD9S wrote:

evank516 wrote:

loisencroach wrote:

SkyWest as Delta Connection though...DL flight numbers.

flyfresno wrote:

wedgetail737 wrote:

Any possibility that UA would expand STS to include DEN...and not completely drop SFO?

Only if they also decide to operate the SFO-STS flight(s) on a 737/A320!

That could happen...very unlikely, but that could happen! Stranger things have happened in the airline industry. G4 used MD-80's and A319's into STS. SY uses 738's to STS. Why not UA flying 737/A320's in to STS. UA and CO used to fly mainline between OAK and SFO.

wedgetail737 wrote:

flyfresno wrote:

wedgetail737 wrote:

Any possibility that UA would expand STS to include DEN...and not completely drop SFO?

Only if they also decide to operate the SFO-STS flight(s) on a 737/A320!

That could happen...very unlikely, but that could happen! Stranger things have happened in the airline industry. G4 used MD-80's and A319's into STS. SY uses 738's to STS. Why not UA flying 737/A320's in to STS. UA and CO used to fly mainline between OAK and SFO.

I’m more commenting on the short stage length rather than the airport. It’s only 73 road miles between them (that said, SFO-SMF is only about 30 miles further by road than STS-SFO, so, haha, it’s not totally out of the realm of possibility...although it’s a much smaller passenger base.)

Here's what the airport is saying about it:

http://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/ ... ed-flights

Looks as though United are decreasing frequency between SFO-STS already...

Are the yields really that bad?...or could this be in anticipation of an STS-DEN route?

GordonCC wrote:

Looks as though United are decreasing frequency between SFO-STS already...

Are the yields really that bad?...or could this be in anticipation of an STS-DEN route?

Could be either. They've been running 3x flights per day and the two times I've taken the early flight out and late flight back, they've been full. However, I've heard the middle flight isn't and is cancelled quite a bit.

Still no commitment by UA on a DEN flight. Given the altitude of DEN and distance, would the CR2 have issues westbound, especially in the winter?