Delta Air Lines will cease flying between Atlanta and Santa Barbara, with the last service down for January. When it ends, the California airport will lose its longest-ever scheduled passenger flight. Santa Barbara will continue to see the 
SkyTeam member, just from another hub.
Each week, carriers worldwide submit their schedules to Cirium Diio, OAG, etc. From this, an analysis of the data can be conducted to see what has changed. It is from doing this that Delta’s latest route cut was found. After January, all flights have been removed from its website and other booking engines.
Gone: Delta From Atlanta To Santa Barbara
The route covers 1,757 nautical miles (3,254 km) each way. According to Cirium data, Delta has served it since June 2024. All flights have been on, and remain on, the 130-seat Airbus A220-300. This is the carrier’s third lowest-capacity mainline equipment after the 109-seat A220-100 and the 110-seat Boeing 717.
Until the weekend’s schedule update, Delta had planned to operate it through all of 2026. However, the latest information is that the last California-bound flight will now take place on January 19, with the schedule shown below. The final departure back to the Georgia airport, which everyone knows is the world’s busiest airport for passengers but not for flights, is on January 20.
The route is currently Delta’s second-longest A220-300-operated service. Seattle to Washington Dulles exceeds the distance by 14%. However, as you might expect, Santa Barbara is Atlanta’s longest-ever A220 scheduled service, regardless of operator.
The route’s end means that 
Dallas/Fort Worth will temporarily be Santa Barbara’s longest link. Covering 1,144 nautical miles (2,119 km), American Airlines serves it on a year-round daily basis, nearly always on the 737-800 or 737 MAX 8. However, things will change again. On March 29, United Airlines will reintroduce its route from Chicago O’Hare to Santa Barbara, which was last flown in 2022. Running seasonally, the 737-700 and the 737 MAX 8 will be deployed. At 1,567 nautical miles (2,902 km), it will become Santa Barbara’s new longest service.
|
Frequency |
Atlanta To Santa Barbara; Local Times In January* |
Santa Barbara To Atlanta; Local Times In January** |
|---|---|---|
|
Daily |
DL720: 18:43-20:56 (5h 13m) |
DL735: 08:45-15:58 (4h 13m) |
|
* Most common schedule only |
** Most common schedule only |
A Look At Atlanta To Santa Barbara
Delta has always served this route on a year-round basis. According to US Department of Transportation data for July 2023-June 2024, the local Atlanta-Santa Barbara city pair only had 11,800 round-trip passengers.
In the 12 months to June 2025, when Delta operated, local traffic increased by 86% to 21,900. The carrier’s share of the market rose from 16% to 77%. The SkyTeam member transported approximately 16,900 of the point-to-point city pair’s passengers, of which 14,300 flew nonstop—the rest traveled via Salt Lake City.
In those 12 months, Delta’s total traffic on that route was 75,500 passengers. It filled 81% of the available seats. The DOT indicates this was Delta’s second-lowest result from Atlanta to California. Only Oakland had a lower load (80%), but that route ended in September 2025.
Given that 16,900 of Delta’s Atlanta-Santa Barbara passengers were local, more than eight in ten people connected to another flight in Atlanta. According to booking data, Delta’s top connecting market to/from Santa Barbara was New York City, followed by Washington DC, Orlando, Boston, and Jacksonville.
Santa Barbara’s Top 10 Markets
Let’s stick with 12 months to June 2025. According to US DOT data, Santa Barbara’s top ten local markets, regardless of the airline, were San Francisco (107,000 round-trip passengers), Seattle (100,000), Denver (98,500), Las Vegas (67,900), Portland (55,100), Phoenix (53,300), Sacramento (51,300), Salt Lake City (48,100), Dallas/Fort Worth (39,400), and Oakland (38,900). Any connecting traffic would be on top of these figures.
Salt Lake City will now be Delta’s sole Santa Barbara offering. The airline serves it double daily to triple daily. While the A220-100 is deployed, SkyWest’s Embraer E175s, operating for Delta Connection, are most often used. The route operated until 2010, resumed in 2019 until the pandemic forced it to stop in 2020, and returned in 2024.
