The field fell into a state of disuse until the arrival of the Lockheed P-38 twin engine fighter in September 1943.

[4] In 2020, the airport was again used for training by a fleet of military jets while Naval Air Station Point Mugu was performing maintenance on its airfield.

The June 1, 1947 timetable lists three daily round trips Los Angeles-Oxnard-Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-San Luis Obispo-Coalinga-Monterey-Santa Cruz/Watsonville-San Jose/Moffett Field-San Francisco.

[10] In 1974 and 1975 Hughes Airwest operated McDonnell Douglas DC-9 Series 30 jets to Los Angeles and San Francisco.

[12] Cable Commuter was later merged into Golden West Airlines but service to Santa Maria ended in the early 1970s.

[13] Swift Aire also previously operated Nord 262s and de Havilland Herons to the airport and then ended service in 1981.

SkyWest Airlines began flights to Santa Maria in 1985 when it acquired Sun Aire Lines which had begun serving the airport in 1982.

In 2016, Mokulele moved its flights to the Los Angeles area from LAX to the Hollywood Burbank Airport but then dropped Santa Maria on November 30, 2017.

[16] During the peak of its airline service from 1986 through 1996, Santa Maria saw service by American Eagle, Delta Connection, and United Express simultaneously and all three air carriers were operating a combined total of up to 22 flights per day to Los Angeles plus several flights to San Francisco with turboprop commuter aircraft.

Allegiant Air previously operated nonstop service to Phoenix via the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport and Portland, OR.

On November 17, 2012, Allegiant Air briefly operated Boeing 757-200 mainline jets from Santa Maria nonstop to Honolulu once a week until August 14, 2013.

[18] Allegiant also previously operated McDonnell Douglas MD-80 mainline jets on its nonstop flights to Las Vegas and Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport.

[1] In 2007 the airport had 62,480 aircraft operations, average 171 per day: 79% general aviation, 19% air taxi, 2% military and <1% airline.

Both US 101 and State Route 135 (Broadway) can be reached from the airport by heading north on Skyway Drive and then turning east onto Betteravia Road.

Short and long-term parking is available, but passenger vehicles left more than 14 days must obtain prior approval by the Airport Administration.