Alaska Airlines announced Thursday that they will provide nonstop flights from San Luis Obispo to Las Vegas and vice versa starting at the end of the year.
The airline currently has three different nonstop flights daily from San Luis Obispo to Seattle, San Diego and Portland.
“It's really exciting for us now to be able to offer to the entire region a daily nonstop flight to Las Vegas,” Courtney Pene, deputy director of planning and outreach for the San Luis Obispo Regional Airport said.
There will only be one round-trip flight per day for travelers. The flight to Las Vegas will depart at 9 a.m. and land at 10:14 a.m.
The returning flight will leave in the evening from Las Vegas at 7:55 p.m. and land in San Luis Obispo around 9 p.m.
The first of these nonstop flights will be on Thursday, Dec. 14 — leaving from Vegas and landing in San Luis Obispo. The first departure from San Luis Obispo to Las Vegas will be Friday, December 15.
Some residents are happy about the change.
Maya Siguenza, a Pismo resident, says she has family in Vegas that she has not been able to visit in quite some time.
“I didn't get to see them because of flights and I don't want to drive over there,” Siguenza said.
“I have reason to go to Vegas for business every once in a while and that will make it much easier,” Pismo Beach resident, Jason Natnason, said.
According to officials from the San Luis Obispo airport, there was a growing demand for travelers between those two destinations.
The airport predicts this year will be a record-busy year for them.
“In 2022 we hit our highest number which is 554,000 passengers, so we do expect to exceed that number,” Pene said.
With a predicted increase in travelers, the San Luis Obispo airport advises travelers to arrive two hours before their flight — especially if they are checking in baggage.
