Could Stockton airport be a flight hub for Modesto residents? Your question, answered

While Modesto discusses extending its airport runways to accommodate bigger aircraft for commercial flights, San Joaquin County continues to advance a vision of Stockton Metropolitan Airport serving customers beyond county boundaries, said Richard Sokol, that city’s airport director.

Tim Moran asked The Modesto Bee’s service journalist, who reports answers to reader questions, if there is consideration being given for the Modesto Airport to join the Stockton Airport to attract commercial airlines.

“(Stockton airport’s) location between the two cities and its surroundings would seem to make it a natural as a regional airport serving both cities,” said Moran, who retired from The Bee as a reporter 14 years ago. The airport is just east of French Camp, about 25 miles north of downtown Modesto.

In 2019, former Stockton Airport Director Russell Stark came to Modesto to discuss his plan for expanding airport services in Stockton and forging a partnership with Modesto, including changing Stockton Airport’s name to “something like Central Valley Regional.”

To answer Moran’s question, we spoke to Sokol, who is six months in to his new position as Stockton airport’s director, to see whether he shares the same vision. Here’s what he said about the facility potentially becoming a hub for Central Valley air travel, and what Modesto Bee readers say they’d like to see happen next:

Will Stockton Airport become Central Valley Airport?

Stockton airport is a roughly 30-minute drive from Modesto and around a 15-minute drive from the center of Stockton, according to Google Maps. Allegiant airline can take you from Stockton to Las Vegas or Phoenix.

Stockton airport officials are making an effort to recruit new passenger airline services, Sokol said. “As those efforts bear fruit, we would embrace a more regional role for the airport,” he said.

Other nearby airport hubs — Sacramento, San Francisco and Oakland — are all roughly a 1.5-hour drive from Modesto.

For the past four months, Sokol said, a consultant has been studying the market, and they are just now starting to reach out to Stanislaus County to understand the county’s interests.

Modesto will continue to explore opportunities to expand its own airport, said Diana Ruiz-Del Re, a spokeswoman for the city of Modesto.

Sokol said the pool of potential customers from San Joaquin, Stanislaus and eastern Contra Costa counties is “way too big for the airlines to overlook.”

“At this time, we are simply looking for ways to work together to attract new airline services,” Sokol said. “Every community in America is competing with us. The national pilot shortage is real. Incentives in this effort are ‘par for the course.’”

Sokol said the airport is studying ways to improve its current airline terminal, with its site limitations, to better serve customers for about five to eight more years. Strong demand “will force them” to consider a completely new terminal building after that time, he said.

A brand new airline terminal building would have direct access to Highway 99 and provide convenient access to Stanislaus County, Sokol said.

“The plans Mr. Stark alluded to several years ago have been scaled back,” Sokol said. “Details of our new plans will be ready to discuss by the end of this year.”

For now, Stockton airport has formally rebranded the north side of the facility as the NorCal Air Logistics Center, he said.

Do residents want a Valley airport, or an expanded Modesto Airport?

Modesto Chamber of Commerce committee member Chris Murphy was at the 2019 meeting that heard the former Stockton airport director’s plan to rebrand the facility as a regional airport, with Modesto’s help.

When Modesto had commuter flights to San Francisco and Los Angeles, he was a regular flier, Murphy said. Now having to go to SFO twice monthly, it would be nice to get commercial air back in Modesto, he recently told The Bee.

“My first preference is Modesto; I think we have the travel market to warrant it,” Murphy said. “Failing that, Stockton would work if the connections are good times.”

A 500-foot extension to Modesto’s runway would make a huge difference in the airport being considered by airlines, said Jim Ransom, chief inspector at Mather Aviation Modesto aircraft repair station.

The city of Modesto submitted a request for proposals Aug. 9 that included a request to obtain an agreement for consulting services to perform a feasibility study for a potential runway extension, according to city documents.

If residents had a choice between boarding a plane in Stockton or Sacramento, they would pick Sacramento with its greater number of nonstop destination choices, Ransom said.

“I don’t think Stockton will ever make it because they’re too close to Sacramento,” he said. “It’s a big runway, but from a marketing standpoint — for regional airline business — it’s never gonna be there.”

Stockton is less than an hour drive from Sacramento International Airport.

Moran, who wrote to the service journalism team, said the location of the Stockton airport, its longer runway and its ability to expand make it a good candidate for a Central Valley regional airport.

“I’m not an aviation expert, but it just seems like one larger airport would be more attractive to commercial airlines than two smaller ones,” Moran said. “Some folks who are smarter than I am say we can’t get airlines in the Northern San Joaquin Valley because we are too close to the major airports in Sacramento, Oakland, San Francisco and San Jose. I don’t know if that’s true or not.”

Have a question you’d like The Modesto Bee to answer? Email our service journalist as servicejournalists@modbee.com.