How to Fly to Napa Sonoma Wine Country: Santa Rosa Airport

Most people who visit us here in Sonoma County and Napa Valley wine country fly into San Francisco or Oakland, then make the nearly two-hour drive up Highway 101. But did you know that you can now fly directly into wine country from many U.S. cities via Santa Rosa Airport? It’s true! Instead of fighting traffic for hours during peak times, you could land at the charming Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport (airport code STS)—named for the famous “Peanuts” creator who called the city home—and be just a 15-minute Uber ride from downtown Healdsburg or 45 minutes to Napa Valley. So why drive to wine country when you can fly?

Commercial Airlines That Fly to Napa Sonoma Wine Country

The following airlines offer service to Santa Rosa Airport, Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport (STS).

Alaska Airlines

Beginning in 2007, Alaska was the first commercial airline to serve Santa Rosa Airport since the fall of 2001. (The other carriers listed here added service in 2017 and expanded routes in 2018,  2019 and 2020.) Direct flights on Alaska Airlines are available to Santa Rosa, the largest city in Sonoma wine country, from the following cities:

• Orange County
• Portland
• Los Angeles
• San Diego
• Seattle
• Santa Barbara (July and August 2020 only)

As a bonus, Alaska Airlines’ “Wine Flies Free” program lets you take home up to one case (12 bottles) of wine as part of your free luggage allowance—as long as it’s packed in a protective shipping container. (Wine shippers are available at many local wineries and mailbox/shipping stores.) Just enter your mileage program number when you make your flight reservation, and the program activates automatically.

American Airlines

American Airlines now offers nonstop flights between Santa Rosa Airport and two major cities out-of-state. (Los Angeles direct service has been canceled during the pandemic due to decreased demand.) As of spring 2020, American nonstop flights to and from Napa Sonoma wine country include:

• Dallas
• Phoenix

Dallas direct to Wine Country flights resumes in July 2020 and could continue to be a seasonal route, depending on how travel numbers evolve during the pandemic. American’s Dallas to Napa Sonoma Wine Country direct flight means that now you can fly from Orlando to Napa Sonoma with one stop at DFW Airport in Dallas. If you’re flying from MIA Airport in Miami to Napa Sonoma Wine Country, simply connect in Dallas, Los Angeles or Phoenix and arrive directly into Santa Rosa Airport. To fly from JFK airport in New York or ORD in Chicago to Napa Sonoma, you can also connect in Dallas, Los Angeles and Phoenix, which might seem out of the way, but the connecting flight layovers (as of summer 2019) were very reasonable at 1-2 hours. That’s shorter than the drive time from San Francisco.

United Airlines

United Airlines began flying to Santa Rosa Airport again in 2017, with short shuttle flights to its San Francisco hub. In April 2020, nonstop flights to its Denver hub were suspended with an anticipated return date of September but now may delayed. Nonstop flights on United Airlines are now only offered to and from San Francisco.