It's Vegas, baby!

Horizon Air will launch daily nonstop flights from Santa Rosa to Las Vegas starting April 24, the airline announced Wednesday.

The Seattle-based carrier is betting there’s strong demand for direct service from Santa Rosa to the self-proclaimed “Entertainment Capital of the World.”

“Since bringing air service back to Sonoma County, we’ve been flooded with requests for flights to Las Vegas,” said Dan Russo, Horizon’s director of marketing. “We think it’s going to do well, based on everything we’ve heard.”

A 2004 survey of Bay Area airport departures showed Las Vegas was the second most popular destination for North Bay air travelers, trailing only Los Angeles.

Las Vegas attracts about 40 million visitors each year, and most arrive by air, according to the city’s visitor and convention authority. The fast-growing tourist destination boasts about 1,700 gambling spots, 200,000 slot machines and

133,000 hotel rooms.

Horizon plans to offer Las Vegas tour packages including flights, hotel rooms and shows through the vacation arm of its sister carrier, Alaska Airlines.

The new flight will leave Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport at 7:35 p.m. and arrive in Las Vegas at 9:40 p.m. The return flight will leave Las Vegas at 10:15 p.m. and arrive in Santa Rosa at 12:20 a.m.

Fares will start at $69 each way for travel Monday through Thursday and on Saturday,

and $89 each way for travel on Friday and Sunday.

Those fares have limited availability, don’t include taxes and fees and must be purchased online at least two weeks in advance.

Horizon began serving Santa Rosa in March with daily flights to Los Angeles and Seattle.

In October, Horizon added a flight to Portland and a third trip to Los Angeles.

Horizon will add a second flight to Seattle from April 6 through Oct. 25 to meet peakseason demand.

It will drop the third Los Angeles flight April 23 to make room for its Las Vegas service, Russo said. The 7:45 p.m. flight from Santa Rosa to LAX “wasn’t doing as well as we’d hoped,” he said. “It was a little too late.”

The county-owned airport had been without scheduled passenger flights since 2001

when Horizon began service.

Horizon carried almost 110,000 passengers to and from Santa Rosa in 2007.

The Las Vegas flights give Sonoma County travelers more options for reaching eastern destinations, said Supervisor Paul Kelley, whose district includes

the airport.

“Las Vegas is quite a hub for international and East Coast travel,” he said.

Horizon’s daily flight provides connections to Atlanta, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Dallas, Philadelphia, New York and other cities, according to the carrier.

“You can fly from Sonoma County after work and be on the East Coast by morning,”

Russo said.

The Las Vegas flights also will make it easier for out-ofstate visitors to reach Sonoma County’s Wine Country, said Ken Fischang, director of the county’s Tourism Bureau. The bureau plans to promote Sonoma County as a cool summer

escape for Las Vegas residents, he said.

“Las Vegas doesn’t have vineyards and wineries like we do,” he said.

Passenger growth should boost Sonoma County’s $84 million plan to expand the airport, Kelley said. The county is conducting an environmental study of the proposed project, which includes a larger terminal, more parking and longer

main runway.

More flights will help the county get federal funding for the improvements, Kelley said.

Starting April 1, the county also plans to charge a fee of $4.50 per departing passenger to raise funds for the project.

A new terminal won’t be completed for at least three years, Kelley said, and the longer runway is at least five years away.

Airport neighbors in Windsor and northwest Santa Rosa are leery of additional flights, saying they’re already bothered by noise from low-flying aircraft.

Horizon’s 76-seat turboprop aircraft “are much noisier than the smaller planes,” said Pam Selveraj, who lives in northwest Santa Rosa.

Additional flights will make the problem worse, she said.

At an airport meeting in September, other neighbors said the airport hasn’t been responsive to their complaints about noise and low-flying aircraft.

The neighbors said they are worried about the airport’s expansion plans. The county’s environmental study will be completed next year.

Staff Writer Nathan Halverson contributed to this report. You can reach Staff Writer

Steve Hart at 521-5205 or steve.hart@pressdemocrat.com.