Southwest Airlines Launches Inaugural Service at Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa, Adds Service to St. Maarten
- Joe Breitfeller
- Apr 8
- 2 min read
Southwest Airlines has expanded their California network with new service to/from Sonoma County Airport. The carrier has also launched new service to St. Maarten, expanding their Caribbean and Atlantic Basin network to 10 destinations.
On Wednesday (April 8, 2026), Southwest Airlines announced the launch of new service from Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa, California, and Princess Juliana International Airport on the island of St. Maarten. Santa Rosa (Sonoma County) is Southwest’s 14th airport in California, and St. Maarten marks the airline’s 10th island destination in the Caribbean and Atlantic Basin.
In Wednesday’s announcement, Southwest Airlines’ Chief Operating Officer, Andrew Watterson, said,
“We are listening to our Customers by offering even more in California and the Caribbean. We know they are already visiting these great destinations, and now they can do so on Southwest.”
The captain of Southwest’s inaugural flight from Santa Rosa on Tuesday (April 7th) was Marc Hauptman, who grew up in Santa Rosa, went to Sonoma State University, and completed his flight training at the Sonoma County airport. After years of hoping for Southwest service to his hometown, he was overjoyed to see this full-circle moment for the Santa Rosa community.
The inaugural flights for Southwest at Santa Rosa (Sonoma County), California, included nonstop to San Diego, Las Vegas, Denver, and Burbank, California. The San Diego and Las Vegas routes will operate daily, including two San Diego roundtrips on peak days. Burbank flights will initially operate five days weekly, and Denver service once weekly on Saturdays. Seasonal service between Santa Ana and Austin is scheduled to begin in October 2026.
Along with service to California’s wine country, Southwest will begin a new program called Sip & Ship, which allows customers to bring a bit of wine country home with them at no cost. From April 24, 2026, travelers will be able to fly one case of wine for free from select West Coast locations, including Santa Rosa (Sonoma County).
As previously mentioned, Southwest has also added new service to St. Maarten. The inaugural daily flight from Orlando to St. Maarten took to the skies on Tuesday April 7th, while weekend service between Baltimore and St. Maarten is scheduled to begin Saturday, April 11th. Southwest is currently the only carrier offering nonstop service from those two cities to St. Maarten.
Southwest Airlines originally launched international service in 2014, and currently serves 11 countries outside of the U.S. With the new St. Maarten service, Southwest now connects nine international countries to Orlando, and 10 with Baltimore. St. Maarten is known for its famed Maho Beach abutting the airport, and is split almost equally between the Dutch constituent country in the southern half of the island and the French overseas territory in the northern portion. Visitors can travel freely between the two sides thanks to the Treaty of Concordia.
Source: Southwest Airlines
