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Allegiant Air adding flights to Tampa Bay
Airline adds semiweekly flights to Tampa
By JORDAN COHEN
VIENNA
Allegiant Air, the only carrier serving the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, attributes “the tremendous support from the Youngstown community” to its decision to add twice-weekly flights to the Tampa Bay area beginning Nov. 17.
“Adding a new route is a testament to the support we have here,” said Jordan McGee, Allegiant director of corporate communications, during a Tuesday news conference announcing the expanded service. McGee said the airline will provide flights to and from St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
“This is a popular destination that has been frequently requested by our passengers,” McGee said. “We go where the demand is.”
Allegiant, based in Las Vegas, began offering flights to Orlando, Fla., from Youngstown in 2006 and launched seasonal service to Myrtle Beach, S.C., earlier this year. The service concluded recently, but McGee said Myrtle Beach flights will resume next April.
As an incentive on the Tampa flights, Allegiant is offering introductory one-way fares of $64.99 until Oct. 12 for travel to Tampa Bay through March 8, 2011. She said the regular one-way price is $79.99.
U.S. Rep Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, called the announcement “great news for our Valley.”
“Allegiant Air’s expansion of services in our region is just one more positive sign that our economy is moving in the right direction,” Ryan said. “And it would not have been possible without a significant level of regional cooperation and the leadership of [Allegiant] Chairman and CEO Maurice Gallagher Jr. and President Andrew Levy.”
“This is huge for us,” said Dan Dickten, Western Reserve Port Authority aviation director. “It proves the concept that [airline] service should be operating from this airport.”
Asked about additional revenue the service will bring to Youngstown-Warren, Dickten said he did not have figures available.
“We don’t get a lot of revenue from the airline,” the director said, adding that keeping costs down is an incentive to attract carriers to Youngstown.
Dickten said the authority has “made presentations” in the hope of landing service to Washington, Chicago and Detroit but indicated that talks are in the initial stages. However, he expressed optimism about the airport’s prospects.
“We are extremely excited and working with Allegiant for additional destinations in the future,” Dickten said.
Allegiant also offers service to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Las Vegas and Phoenix. McGee would not speculate if any of those cities could be next for Youngstown service.
“We’re always looking to expand, but that depends on community support,” she said. “Youngstown has definitely supported us.”
McGee declined to divulge the percentage of occupancy on the Orlando and Myrtle Beach flights, but Dickten said later that 90 percent of the passenger seats usually are sold for both routes.