As COVID-19 cases begin to rise locally and nationally, Santa Barbara Airbus has decided to delay its reopening until Dec. 14.
“We believe that this is the best thing for our community, our team, and our business,” said Samantha Onnen, general manager at Airbus. “We are committed to returning to business as soon as our reopening can be sustainable.”
Santa Barbara Airbus typically makes multiple daily round-trip shuttles to and from Los Angeles International Airport.
Since United Airlines has yet to resume flights from the Santa Barbara Airport to LAX, and has yet to indicate when it will, according to airport officials.
Airbus would have been that missing link in travel options.
Airbus announced its first reopening at the beginning of October, and initially planned to start on Nov. 16.
However, the decision to delay that reopening came Thursday as Airbus saw COVID-19 cases continually increasing.
“As we saw that the rise in cases wasn’t stopping, we realized it was going to have an impact on travel,” Onnen said. “Not knowing how holiday travel was going to impact case numbers, we figured it was best to wait and see. We want to do our part in stopping the spread of the virus as well.”
With the extra time given by the delayed reopening, Airbus will be able to monitor the impact of increased case counts on the travel industry, and continue to plan for the safety of staff and customers, Onnen said.
“The challenges in the travel industry are still unknown, and it is imperative that we approach a reopen strategically to be successful,” said Eric Onnen, chief executive officer of Airbus.
Samantha Onnen is hopeful that Thanksgiving is a successful travel time and won’t cause a spike in cases, which would make for a successful reopening in December.
Passengers that had bookings impacted by the change in reopening will be contacted and receive a full refund.
— Noozhawk staff writer Jade Martinez-Pogue can be reached at jmartinez-pogue@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
