Passengers taking to the friendly skies from the Santa Barbara Airport during the upcoming holiday weekend may be faced with a more down-to-earth challenge — where to park their vehicles.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has eased and commercial air traffic has risen, the airport has seen its long-term parking lot near the terminal running out of room on a regular basis, according to Deanna Zachrisson, airport business development manager.
“At almost exactly on Mother’s Day weekend, we started to experience the long-term lot filling up starting on Thursdays, with ‘pressure relief’ by Sunday,” Zachrisson told Noozhawk.
At that point, airport officials started directing employees to park in the economy lot on Hollister Avenue at the site of the former drive-in theater, with workers being shuttled to their jobs.
“The situation has continued to become more pressing as travel demand increases,” Zachrisson added.
The long-term lot near the terminal has 750 spaces, and most travelers park for three or four days.
The economy lot, at the corner of Hollister Avenue and Frederick Lopez Road, has another 590 spaces, with passengers and employees shuttled via two vans, on demand, every day from Wednesday to Sunday, Zachrisson said.
“The greatest problem we are facing now is late-arriving passengers,” Zachrisson said. “We know how frustrating it can be to show up at the airport only to find there is no parking.
“We do not want our customers facing the prospect of missing a flight because they do not have the time to park in the economy lot and shuttle to the terminal.”
During peak travel periods, passengers are advised to arrive at the airport at least 90 minutes before boarding starts for their flight — or roughly two hours before the scheduled departure time.
Travel for the July 4 “weekend” started on Wednesday, she said, with the long-term lot expected to fill up soon.
“We know that if we’ve got 650 cars in the lot at 12 midnight, we will fill before noon the next day,” she said.
Passengers parking in the lots also are advised that they should care for the parking ticket they receive upon entry. Tickets should not be left on the dashboard, as they can fade in the sun and become unreadable, and passengers should take care not to lose them.
“We register cars every night,” Zachrisson said, “so losing the ticket will not result in getting out for one day’s fee, if you’ve been parked for four days.”
— Noozhawk executive editor Tom Bolton can be reached at tbolton@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.