In the past two years, the Santa Barbara Airport has seen an increase in travelers from 800,000 passengers a year to 1.2 million.
With this big increase in travelers, you’d think it would be getting crowded.
"No, not really. It's as pleasant as it always has been," said Dr. Cynthia Salinas, who travels to Santa Barbara a couple of times a year.
According to the airport, passenger volume is expected to increase continuously at a rate of 5% per year.
"We have more passengers on fewer airplanes because they are larger airplanes," explained Santa Barbara Airport Director Chris Hastert.
Larger airplanes mean more passengers deplaning at once, so the airport is expanding the terminal by 33,000 square feet and adding two jet bridges as part of their terminal improvement project with construction slated to begin in 2026.
The airport’s updated Master Plan looks at the airport as a whole and this round of changes highlighted improvements to parking and studies on noise.
"In general, with technology, our noise footprint is shrinking because the aircraft is a little bit quieter and we have fewer aircraft landing and departing," Hastert said.
The airport Master Plan is updated every 5-10 years and focused on long-term planning developments.
