Came across an OAG (Official Airline Guide) from 1995 and was astounded by the number and breadth of intra-California flights from SMF.
This is from April 2, so not even in peak travel time yet. Check out this schedule. Most are daily and all are at least 5x/week. I list flight time (as blocked, actual flight time is typically shorter) and the parent airline if flown by a commuter. I also compare to service today, 5/16/2022 below in italics.
Bakersfield – 3x/day – 1hr 15 min - Delta Connection
No service
Burbank – 10x/day – 1hr 15 min – Southwest
11/day – 1hr 15 min - Southwest
Chico – 2x/day – 30 min - Reno Air Express
No service
Eureka/Arcata – 3x/day – 1hr 5 min – United Express
No service
Fresno – 3x/day – 55 min – United Express
No service
LAX – 13x/day – 1hr 15 min – Southwest/United
15x/day – 1hr 25 min – American/Delta/United/Southwest
Ontario – 9x/day – 1hr 10 min – Southwest
8x/day – 1hr 20 min - Southwest
Orange County – 6x/day – 1hr 25 min – America West
7x/day – 1hr 25 min – Southwest/Spirit
Palm Springs - No service
2x/day – 1hr 25 min - Southwest
San Diego – 14x/day – 1hr 25 min - Southwest/United
16x/day – 1hr 30 min – Alaska/Southwest
SFO – 21x/day – 40 min – United Express/USAir Express
2x/day – 1hr 4 min – United
San Jose – 5x/day – 45 min – Reno Air Express
No service
San Luis Obispo – 4x/day – 1hr 5 min – Delta Connection
No service
Santa Barbara – 4x/day – 1hr 25 min – Delta Connection
No service (Note: starts in June on Southwest.)
That’s
97 flights a day to 14 destinations within California getting you almost anywhere in the state
in less than 90 min. Today there are 61 intra-California flights.
Total pax in 1995 was just over 6.7 million with 24 destinations. With only 24 destinations total, and only 10 of those out of state, I have to think most of this traffic was O&D. Even now, with well over 40 destinations, SMF is not typically used for connecting (Southwest routes some connecting pax through SMF, but that number is relatively small.).
The exception of course is SFO as it was by far the leading connecting airport for the Sacramento market until about 2002, when SMF saw large increases in out-of-state flights to other hubs. The Reno Air Express flights to San Jose and Chico also appear to be for connections at SJC.
I don’t see many connecting opportunities for flights to Bakersfield, Fresno, Santa Barbara, etc. What could the dynamics be to support such a robust, intra-California, schedule from SMF in the mid-nineties?
97 flights every day to cities within California… wow!
Happy flying everyone!
