Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport is a domestic airport located northwest of downtown Santa Rosa, California, in Sonoma County, California, United States.
The airport is named after Charles M. Schulz, the famed cartoonist of the Peanuts comic strip, who lived in Santa Rosa for more than 30 years. The airport's logo features Snoopy in World War I flying-ace attire atop his doghouse.
History
Military use In the 1930s Santa Rosa had a small municipal airfield owned by Richfield Oil Corporation next to the Redwood Highway about 6 miles southeast of the present airport. Use of the 3,000-foot sod runway at the earlier airfield was discontinued during World War II as facilities at the present airport improved.
Opened in June 1942 and known as Santa Rosa Army Air Field, the airfield was assigned to Fourth Air Force as a group and replacement training airfield. Known units assigned to Santa Rosa were:
354th Fighter Group, March–June 1943 357th Fighter Group, June–August 1943 363d Fighter Group, August–October 1943 367th Fighter Group, October–December 1943
The 478th Fighter Group was permanently assigned to Santa Rosa in December 1943 and began training replacement pilots, who were sent to combat units overseas after graduation.
The airfield was inactivated on January 31, 1946 during winter and turned over to the War Assets Administration for eventual conversion to a civil airport.
Airline flights From the late-1940s to the mid-1970s Southwest Airways and successors Pacific Air Lines, Air West and Hughes Airwest served Santa Rosa. Southwest Airways Douglas DC-3s followed by Pacific, Air West and Hughes Airwest Fairchild F-27 turboprops mainly flew to San Francisco (SFO). Pacific Air Lines had introduced F-27 aircraft on its Santa Rosa service by 1964 with these new propjets subsequently replacing the airline's Martin 4-0-4 piston-powered aircraft on all of its flights into the airport. In 1967 Pacific was operating daily F-27 service on a roundtrip routing of Portland, OR - Crescent City - Eureka/Arcata - Santa Rosa - San Francisco. By 1968, one of the Air West F-27 flights serving the airport was operating a daily southbound routing of Redding - Santa Rosa - Oakland - San Francisco. In the summer of 1972, Hughes Airwest was operating two nonstop F-27 flights every weekday to San Francisco. However, by 1975 Hughes Airwest was no longer serving Santa Rosa.
Commuter airlines flew STS to San Francisco (SFO) until 2001 as well as to San Jose (SJC) at various times. In 1969 Golden Pacific Airlines (1969–1973) was operating six roundtrip flights every weekday between the airport and SFO as well as direct flights to Eureka, Lake Tahoe, Reno, Stockton and Ukiah with Beechcraft 99 commuter turboprops Second page During the mid and late 1970s Eureka Aero and successor Air Pacific (United States) operated de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter service to Eureka, Oakland, Sacramento and San Francisco. Second page Second page In 1985 Westates Airlines Convair CV-580 turboprops flew nonstop to Los Angeles for several months before ceasing operations; their July 1985 timetable listed 38 round trips a week between STS and LAX. Other turboprop flights included American Eagle Fairchild Swearingen Metroliners operated by Wings West Airlines for American Airlines nonstop to SFO and San Jose (SJC). In late 1989 American Eagle had three Metros a day to SFO and four a day to SJC. In 1995 Reno Air Express was operating codeshare BAe Jetstream 31 nonstop service from Eureka/Arcata, Reno and San Jose flown by Mid Pacific Air on behalf of Reno Air.
On September 15, 1974, the airport's main taxi runway was dedicated to and named after local pilot and businessman Lloyd C. Hayes, making it one of the rare instances where a U.S. airport taxiway was officially named after an individual.https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-press-democrat-santa-rosa-50-memb/34713323/
In the mid-1980s United Airlines entered into a code sharing agreement with WestAir, a commuter airline that had previously served STS with Cessna 402s and de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otters to San Francisco. WestAir then began flying as United Express to SFO until 2001. Westair operated its United Express service with Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante, Short 360, BAe Jetstream 31 and Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia turboprops.
In 1989 jet service arrived in Santa Rosa when WestAir operating as United Express began flying four weekday BAe 146-200 nonstops to Los Angeles, soon replaced with Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia turboprops with this service to LAX then ending in 1991. The Westair BAe 146s were Santa Rosa's only jet flights until Allegiant Air jets appeared on May 19, 2016 followed by American Eagle on February 16, 2017. WestAir formerly operated as Stol Air Commuter flying Britten-Norman Islanders and Trislanders to San Francisco. Stol Air Commuter had administrative offices in Santa Rosa. In June 2001 United Express operated by SkyWest Airlines was the only airline serving Santa Rosa with six Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia flights a day into the airport including four daily nonstops from Los Angeles (LAX) and two flights a day from San Francisco (SFO). United Express then left Santa Rosa later in 2001 (and would not return until 2017) with the airport not having any scheduled passenger airline service for several years during the early and mid-2000s.
In March 2007 airline service resumed; Horizon Air, a subsidiary of Alaska Airlines, began flights to Seattle/Tacoma and Los Angeles operated with Bombardier Q400 propjets. Horizon then added flights to Portland, Oregon in late 2007, to Las Vegas in early 2008, and to San Diego in mid 2012.
In early 2011 Alaska Airlines announced it would retire its Horizon brand, and all flights operated by Horizon now use the Alaska Airlines name. In June 2012 the airline ended flights from STS to Las Vegas.
As part of an agreement between the airport, Alaska Airlines, and the local enotourism industry, it was announced in January 2012 that passengers were allowed to check a 12-bottle case of wine for free on all Alaska Airlines flights from the airport.
Most Alaska Airlines flights from Santa Rosa are currently operated with 76-seat Embraer E175 regional jets. The exception is mainline Boeing 737-800 jetliner service nonstop to Seattle. Alaska E-175s currently fly nonstop to Burbank, Los Angeles, Orange County, Portland, San Diego, and Seattle.
New jet service In March 2016, Allegiant Air announced it would begin flying McDonnell Douglas MD-83s nonstop to Las Vegas McCarran International Airport and nonstop to Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport (IWA). The Las Vegas flight began on May 19, 2016 and the Phoenix flight several days later. At the time, the MD-83 was the largest airliner ever scheduled to Santa Rosa; as of October 19, 2016, Allegiant switched from the 166 seat MD-83 to the 155 seat Airbus A319. Allegiant ended flights to Phoenix-Mesa on January 2, 2017, and to Las Vegas on June 30, 2017, no longer serving Santa Rosa.
In October 2016, American Airlines announced it would begin nonstop service between Santa Rosa and its hub in Phoenix (PHX) on February 16, 2017. The daily code share flight was being operated by SkyWest Airlines as American Eagle with Canadair CRJ-700s. American Eagle then added a second nonstop CRJ-700 roundtrip flight to Phoenix. American Eagle announced it would begin flying Embraer 175s nonstop to Los Angeles (LAX) effective May 3, 2019 and nonstop to Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) effective June 6, 2019. American currently operates nonstop jet flights to PHX with Airbus A319 mainline jets as well as with Embraer 175 regional jets in addition to seasonal nonstop A319 jet service to DFW from Santa Rosa.
In February 2017, United Express announced their return to Santa Rosa with thrice daily service to the United Airlines hub in San Francisco (SFO). The flights began on June 8, 2017; SkyWest Airlines Canadair CRJ-200s operated the code sharing flights for United. United Express announced it would begin nonstop CRJ-200 regional jet flights to Denver (DEN) on March 8, 2019. United suspended all service at the Sonoma County airport on November 1, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While service was resumed temporarily to SFO on August 1, 2021, United indefinitely suspended all service to Santa Rosa (including United Express) on November 1, 2022.
In March 2017, Sun Country Airlines announced seasonal nonstop service between Santa Rosa and Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport, to operate from late summer until late fall. Sun Country was operating weekly 162 seat Boeing 737-800s from August 24, 2017 through December 3, 2017, connecting via Minneapolis/St. Paul to Boston, New York John F. Kennedy Airport and Washington Reagan National Airport. Sun Country then continued to operate from the airport but had ended all service to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and was serving Washington Dulles Airport instead at the time. In May 2018 Sun Country Airlines made a surprise announcement that it would be adding a new seasonal destination from Santa Rosa with nonstop flights between STS and Las Vegas (LAS) in addition to its seasonal nonstop service between the airport and MSP. The Sun Country fleet is composed of Boeing 737-700s and 737-800s, which were the largest aircraft types serving the airport at the time. Sun Country ceased serving Santa Rosa in early 2020.
Avelo Airlines began nonstop service to the Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR) in the Los Angeles area on April 28, 2021 and then subsequently added nonstop flights to Las Vegas with Boeing 737-800 mainline jetliners which were the largest aircraft type serving Santa Rosa in scheduled passenger service at the time. Avelo also previously operated Boeing 737-700 jetliners into the airport. However, Avelo then closed its operational base at the airport and ceased serving Santa Rosa on August 11, 2025.https://www.petalumanews.com/2025/07/14/avelo-airlines-to-cease-operations-at-sonoma-county-airport/ Alaska Airlines then began nonstop jet service from the airport to Burbank while Avelo was still serving STS. https://www.alaskaair.com , Where we fly On May 1, 2024, Avelo established an operational base at STS and expanded its nonstop service to four new destinations in the western U.S. before subsequently ending all service from Santa Rosa.
With the retirement of all Bombardier Q400 turboprop aircraft from the Alaska Airlines fleet in late January 2023, all Alaska Airlines flights from Santa Rosa are currently operated either with Embraer E175 regional jets or with mainline Boeing 737-800 jetliners.
Southwest Airlines began serving the airport on April 7, 2026 with nonstop Boeing 737 mainline jet flights to Burbank, CA, Denver, Las Vegas and San Diego.https://www.visitsantarosa.com/blog/southwest-airlines-lands-at-charles-m-schulz-sonoma-county-airport/
Facilities The airport covers at an elevation of 129 feet (39 m). It has two asphalt runways: 02/20 is 5,202 by 100 feet (1,586 x 30 m) and 14/32 is 6,000 by 150 feet (1,829 x 46 m).
In the year ending December 31, 2023 the airport had 82,710 aircraft operations, average 226 per day: 79% general aviation, 11% air taxi, 10% airline and <1% military. 334 aircraft were then based at this airport: 263 single-engine, 35 multi-engine, 22 jet, and 14 helicopter.
In August 2013 the airport started a project to decouple the ends of the two runways and extend runway 14/32 by 885 feet, to 6000 feet and extend runway 02/20 by 200 feet, to 5202 feet. This project was scheduled for completion in November 2014.