Santa Maria Public Airport

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For other airports named Santa Maria, see Santa Maria Airport.

Coordinates: 34°53′56″N 120°27′27″W / 34.89889, -120.4575

Santa Maria Public Airport Capt. G. Allan Hancock Field

IATA: SMX – ICAO: KSMX – FAA: SMX
Summary
Airport type		Public
Owner		Santa Maria Public Airport District
Serves		Santa Maria, California
Elevation AMSL		261 ft / 80 m
Website		SantaMariaAirport.com
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
12/30	6,304	1,921	Asphalt
2/20	5,130	1,564	Asphalt
Statistics (2007)
Aircraft operations			62,480
Based aircraft			243
Source: FAA^[1], airport website^[2]

Santa Maria Public Airport (IATA: SMX, ICAO: KSMX, FAA LID: SMX), also known as the Capt. G. Allan Hancock Field, is an airport located three miles (5 km) south of the central business district of Santa Maria, a city in northern Santa Barbara County, California, United States.^[1]

1 History
2 Facilities and aircraft
3 Expansion
4 Airlines and destinations
5 See Also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] History

The airport was first built in the 1940s when during World War 2, the Army constructed what first started out as the Santa Maria Army base. Its main purpose was to provide training for pilots of B-25 aircraft.

After the war, Santa Barbara County decided to acquire the land and facilities. It controlled the area until 1949 when the city of Santa Maria took interest and obtained half of the airport. It was in 1964 that the newly renamed Santa Maria Public Airport was born.

Its first location is where what is now Allan Hancock College. The final and current location of the airport is on Skyway Drive at the southern tip of city limits.

[edit] Facilities and aircraft

FAA airport diagram

Santa Maria Public Airport covers an area of 2,516 acres (1,018 ha) which contains two asphalt paved runways: 12/30 measuring 6,304 x 150 ft. (1,921 x 46 m) and 2/20 measuring 5,130 x 75 ft. (1,564 x 23 m).^[1]

For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2007, the airport had 62,480 aircraft operations, an average of 171 per day: 79% general aviation, 19% air taxi, 2% military and <1% scheduled commercial. There are 243 aircraft based at this airport: 83% single-engine, 7% multi-engine, 6% helicopter, 3% jet, <1% glider and <1% ultralight.^[1]

[edit] Expansion

The airport hopes to expand one of its runways in the hope to attract new airlines. It has opened an international customs facility on December 1, 2006, and airport officials hope that this would encourage new airlines to set routes to Santa Maria. The airport has also undertaken negotiations with Frontier Airlines in 2007, in hopes of launching a route on the low cost carrier to its Denver hub.^[3]Santa Maria is now currently out of the running for the Denver Based flight. In August 2007 Allegiant Air added another route to Santa Maria from its newly proclaimed focus city at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, however it has been announced that the route will be discontinued in May 2008. Allegiant Air has also expanded air service from Las Vegas to Santa Maria adding a Monday flight to its schedule. Skywest, in late 2007 (which provides current service to Los Angeles International Airport several times a day), has plans to add routes to destinations such as Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, and other various key hubs. If Skywest approves of these routes Santa Maria Airport will be one of a few airports that would offer flights to major cities back east.

Airport officials have recently opened the new 4,000, some odd, square foot baggage claim facility and have repaired the cracks in the floor. It is one of the first airports on the Central Coast to use a state of the art baggage carousel (in a smaller scale) to deliver luggage to passengers.

A new passenger terminal holding room was recently opened. The old area was able to accommodate only 30 passengers. To handle the larger crowds of passengers that Allegiant Air flights bring, the new holding room accommodates 200 passengers and has enough room for a new cafe.