St. Louis Lambert International Airport has landed two new daily non-stop flights to northern California. Southwest Airlines will begin offering service from St. Louis to Sacramento and San Jose beginning in April. Airport Director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge tells Missourinet that northern California is a key market for St. Louis.

Photo courtesy of Lambert International Airport

“The whole northern California area has been very important to our users of the airport. We have been fortunate in that we’ve seen growth in that market,” says Hamm-Niebruegge.

The airport has had ongoing conversations with all of its airlines about filling the air travel needs of the region.

“Both of these markets have been focuses for us, I would say, in the last couple of years,” says Hamm-Niebruegge. “We work very closely with all of our large corporations here as well as the tech startups and the chambers to understand their needs and goals. It’s clear that the California area and the whole tech scene is driving a lot of traffic to the west coast.”

Tickets for flights are now available online.

In fiscal year 2017 that ended July 31, Lambert had more than 14 million passengers visit the airport. Hamm-Niebruegge expects that figure to climb to about 15 million in the current budget year.