August/September Business View Magazine

154 155 SANTA BARBARA MUNICIPAL AIRPORT Municipal Airport A RICH AVIATION HISTORY S anta Barbara Municipal Airport is the 13th largest airport in California. Located alongside the Pacific Ocean, ten miles west of downtown Santa Barbara, the public-use airport served 711,000 passengers in 2017. Its LEED Gold-certified airline terminal opened in 2011, providing state-of-the-art ame- nities and efficient passenger security screening. Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, and United Airlines offer 22 daily departures to seven non- stop destinations –Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle. The number of departures will grow this year when Frontier Airlines and Sun Country Airlines begin offering flights to Denver and Minneapolis. Owned and operated by the City of Santa Bar- bara, the Airport was awarded the Federal Avia- tion Administration Western Pacific Region’s 2018 Outstanding Airport Award, which recognized SBA’s management for “exemplary work” in com- pleting important safety projects proactively, outstand- ing management of FAA grant funding, and for having a cooperative relationship with the FAA’s Los Angeles office. Known as SBA, the Airport has its beginnings in Santa Barbara’s rich history in aviation, which dates back to 1914 when Lincoln Beachey flew an airplane across Santa Barbara County’s Goleta Valley. Two years later, a seaplane factory was established in Santa Barbara by the Loughead Brothers, who later changed their name to Lockheed. In 1928, Gordon Sackett and Royce Stetson landed a AT A GLANCE SANTA BARBARA MUNICIPAL AIRPORT WHAT: A public-use airport with commercial service WHERE: Seven miles west of downtown Santa Barbara, California WEBSITE: www.santabarbaraca.gov/ gov/depts/flysba