JSX Adds Oakland From Santa Monica, an Airport That Closes at the End of 2028

JSX starts flying between Santa Monica and Oakland on September 14, 2026, up to three times a day. The Port of Oakland announced the route on June 25. What almost nobody covering it mentions is that Santa Monica Airport is legally required to close at midnight on December 31, 2028.

That gives the fastest-growing operation at SMO a runway of about two years and four months. It is the single most important fact for anyone thinking about building travel habits around this airport.

JSX Santa Monica to Oakland: Schedule, Aircraft and Fares

Flights operate on JSX's ATR 42-600, a turboprop configured with 30 seats and free Starlink Wi-Fi. Frequency is up to three times daily, twice on Saturday. Introductory fares start at $149 one-way and include at least two checked bags, onboard cocktails and business-class legroom.

Check-in is 20 to 30 minutes before departure from private terminals at both ends. JSX asks to be described as an air carrier or a public charter service rather than an airline, which is not a branding quirk. It operates under 14 CFR Part 380, the public charter rule, and is subject to TSA-approved security under 49 CFR Part 1544. The regulatory category is what lets it use a 3,500-foot general aviation runway in the middle of a residential city.

"Our Customers tell us they want less friction and more speed when they travel within California," JSX CEO Alex Wilcox said in the Port of Oakland's announcement. Port of Oakland Director of Aviation Craig Simon framed it as network growth, noting JSX's existing Oakland service to Burbank, Carlsbad and Las Vegas.

Santa Monica Airport Closes on December 31, 2028

Santa Monica closes SMO at midnight on December 31, 2028. The date comes from a 2017 consent decree between the City of Santa Monica, the FAA and the Department of Justice, and the city has restated it in writing twice in the past year.

JSX's own position at the airport expires sooner. The city issued JSX a Commercial Operations Permit and executed a three-year lease on December 2, 2025, running through November 30, 2028. One month before the airport shuts, the lease is already gone.

"All Santa Monica Airport leases will expire, or be terminated by the City, before the closure date," City Manager Oliver Chi said when the lease was approved.

Why Santa Monica Approved JSX Anyway

This is the part that reads oddly until you see the mechanism. The consent decree requires Santa Monica to keep operating SMO as a general aviation airport through the end of 2028, and federal law bars the city from refusing access to qualified aeronautical users who meet published standards. Allowing JSX is how the city protects its right to close.

The Airport Commission recommended delaying approval in September 2025 so staff could study the operation further. The city went ahead anyway. "Santa Monica Airport will close at the end of 2028, and nothing about this process with JSX Air changes that fact," Chi said at the time.

City staff reviewed the operation on safety, noise, traffic and environmental grounds before issuing the permit. The runway is 3,500 feet with 300-foot safety areas at each end, a city-staffed rescue and firefighting vehicle is on site, and JSX must stay inside Santa Monica's 95 dBA noise limit and its hours of operation.

What JSX at Santa Monica Means for Your Travel

For the next two years, the west side of Los Angeles has a genuinely useful short-haul option. Santa Monica to Oakland avoids LAX entirely, and the door-to-door saving against driving to LAX, clearing security and flying to SFO or OAK is real for anyone who lives west of the 405.

After 2028 it goes away, and the replacement is not another airport. The 227-acre site is planned as parkland. If a route matters enough to plan around, plan around the date.

The practical read: use it, do not build a routine on it. Book the fares that make sense in 2026 and 2027, and treat 2028 as the last full year of service rather than the start of something permanent.

Can You Earn Points on JSX Flights

There is not much of one, and that is worth saying plainly rather than implying otherwise. Public charter flights do not earn miles in the major frequent flyer programs the way a Delta or an Alaska ticket does. JSX runs its own loyalty program instead, and the earning happens there.

If you fly JSX often enough for that to matter, our breakdown of how the Club JSX loyalty program works covers the earning and pooling mechanics, and our review of the paid JSX Club membership covers whether the annual fee pays for itself at your flying volume.

The card side is simpler. JSX fares code as airfare with the major issuers, so a card earning a travel or airfare multiplier is doing the work here, not a co-brand relationship. Pay with whichever travel card you already carry and move on.

What to Watch Before Booking JSX

Two things. First, whether JSX adds more Santa Monica routes, because each one is a bet on an asset with a fixed expiry and tells you how the carrier is reading the last two years.

Second, whether anything moves the 2028 date. The city has now reaffirmed it publicly in September 2025 and again in December 2025, and the consent decree is the mechanism that makes the closure enforceable rather than aspirational. Nothing in the JSX lease disturbs it.

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