There’s big news for travelers in the Tri-Counties. For the first time, the region is being served by the nation’s four largest airlines. After dropping service to the area during the pandemic, Delta Air Lines in now again flying to Santa Barbara.
Passengers arriving at Santa Barbara Airport on a Delta Air Lines flight from Salt Lake City Friday afternoon were surprised by a cheering crowd of community leaders as they got off the plane.
It was the first flight marking Delta’s return to Santa Barbara. Jason Wideman was one of the arriving passengers.
"Perfect. I like this kind of reception," joked Wideman.
"There's a lot of demand for this market," said Edith Adedeji, with Delta. She said the time for Delta to return to Santa Barbara was right.
"When we took it offline, sadly it was around COVID," said Adedeji. "We've seen this is the right time to come back to Santa Barbara. Not only are we bringing back Salt Lake City, we are launching Atlanta. And from Atlanta, during the peak summer months, there will be 800 flights to 200 destinations around the world."
Delta is now offering two daily roundtrip flights from Santa Barbara to Salt Lake City, and one daily roundtrip to Atlanta.
The airport is now served by Alaska, American, Delta, Southwest, and United Airlines.
It had the largest number of passengers in its history last year, and is on track for another huge year.
