California is the most populous state in the United States (US). With several cities and metropolitan areas over 500,000 people, and other large cities, airlines have over 20,000 flights a month scheduled within the state. According to data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company, there are currently 12 airlines operating intra-California flights.

Southwest Airlines
has the largest market share of any airline. In October, Southwest has nearly 40% of the market share with 7,925 flights. United Airlines
has the second-largest market share with just over 24%. The breakdown by airline is below:

Airline

Number of flights

Southwest Airlines

7,925

United Airlines

4,850

Alaska Airlines

3,263

Delta Air Lines

1,344

Spirit Airlines

932

Frontier Airlines

632

American Airlines

516

Southern Airways Express

212

Advanced Air

188

Avelo Airlines

136

Breeze Airways

30

Aero

16

Southwest Airlines

As mentioned above, Southwest has the largest market share of any airline when analyzing intra-California operations. In October, Southwest has just under 1.2 million seats available, generating nearly half a million available seat miles (ASMs).

Of its intra-California services, the route from San Diego International Airport (SAN) to San Jose Mineta International Airport (SJC) is the busiest. Southwest’s operations between the two cities varies from day to day, anywhere from seven roundtrips to 12. There are nearly 100,000 seats available on this city pair.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 on approach at San Diego International Airport.

Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock

Just behind San José is a route from San Diego to the state’s capital, Sacramento. Sacramento International Airport (SMF) is served up to 12 times daily from San Diego and has over 100,000 seats available. Southwest deploys several variants of its Boeing 737 aircraft, including the 737 MAX 8, 737-700, and 737-800.

After San José and Sacramento comes a city in the East San Francisco Bay, Oakland. Recently renamed San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport (OAK) has between seven and ten daily roundtrips from San Diego on Southwest. The 446-mile route has just over 80,000 seats available this month.

United Airlines

United has nearly 5,000 intra-California flights in October. The airline operates 22 routes from its hubs at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). A large majority of the flights are operated by SkyWest Airlines but some are mainline operations.

The busiest route, by far, is one connecting the two hubs mentioned above, LAX and SFO. This route is exclusively operated by United mainline up to 11 times daily. In October, there are more than 105,000 seats available on this city pair.

The 337-mile flight, which takes just under an hour, is far from being the shortest intra-California route operated by United. Several variants of the Boeing 737 are deployed on this route, along with the Airbus A320.

United Airlines Airbus A320 at SFO

Photo: Lukas Souza | Simple Flying

At number two is a flight also to Southern California that is a mainline-operated route. This month, United has up to eight daily roundtrips to SAN , exclusively operated by Boeing 737s. In total, there are 434 flights between the two cities, and nearly 74,000 seats available.

There are three routes that have nearly the same number of flights. In third place, beating the fourth-place route by one flight, is the route from San Francisco to Eureka. California Redwood Coast-Humboldt County Airport (ACV), in the north of the state, is connected to SFO four times daily by the Embraer E175. In total, there are 248 flights and just over 18,600 seats available between the two cities.

The route from SFO to SLO County Airport (SBP) has 247 flights in October. Also operated by SkyWest’s E175s with various configurations, the route has four daily roundtrips and nearly 18,000 seats available.

Below is a table of United’s top five routes in October:

Origin

Destination

Number of flights

San Francisco

Los Angeles

615

San Francisco

San Diego

434

San Francisco

Eureka

248

San Francisco

San Luis Obispo

247

San Francisco

Sacramento

243

Alaska Airlines

Alaska Airlines, based in Seattle, also has two California bases, like United. Both of its bases also happen to be at the same airports, LAX and SFO. In October, data shows that Alaska has 3,263 flights in California.

Though its number of flights is about 1,600 less than United, Alaska’s seat offering is nearly half, as most of its intra-California operations are regional. The busiest route is from SFO to John Wayne Airport (SNA) in Orange County. This month, Alaska has between five and nine daily roundtrips on the route, totaling 434 flights and more than 32,000 seats.

Horizon Air (Alaska Airlines) Embraer E175 N622QX on approach.

Photo: Ian Dewar Photography | Shutterstock

The route from SFO to LAX is number two, with 290 flights. SkyWest also operates this route and has over 22,000 seats available. Operations fromd SFO to LAX vary between four an six daily roundtrips.

The third-busiest route is to San Diego, where Alaska has a significant operation. The Seattle-based airline connects SAN to SFO up to six times daily and has nearly 22,000 seats available in October.

Busiest routes overall

San Francisco—Los Angeles is by far the busiest intra-California route. Data shows more than 2,100 flights this month and more than 300,000 seats available. San Francisco – San Diego is the second-busiest route, with 1,206 flights and more than 170,000 seats.

LAX Terminal 4.5 Core achieves LEED Gold

Photo: Chizhevskaya Ekaterina | Shutterstock

Rounding out the top three is LAX-SJC, which Delta Air Lines dominates but is also operated by several airlines. Data shows that there are 1,164 flights on the city pair and more than 132,000 seats. The top ten routes are as follows:

Origin

Destination

Number of flights

San Francisco

Los Angeles

2,141

San Francisco

San Diego

1,206

Los Angeles

San Jose

1,164

San Diego

San Jose

1,067

San Diego

Sacramento

989

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