Allegiant pulling out of Y-W Regional in January

By KALEA HALL

and JUSTIN WIER

news@vindy.com

VIENNA

Allegiant Air told a Youngtown-Warren Regional Airport official Aug. 18 that the airline planned to end service at the airport, but that fact was kept from the public and most local government leaders until Friday.

Airport Aviation Director Dan Dickten told The Vindicator he received the news last Friday from Allegiant.

He then shared that information with Western Reserve Port Authority Executive Director John Moliterno. The WRPA oversees the airport.

And for the next seven days, that’s where the news of the imminent departure of the airport’s only commercial airliner remained until Friday, when the Warren Tribune-Chronicle reported that Allegiant would be leaving the airport Jan. 4 because of a slowdown in service.

Aside from not informing the public, others with a direct interest in the airport were left out of the news. Two members of the Mahoning County Board of Commissioners interviewed by The Vindicator said they were not told of Allegiant’s decision last week. In 2016, Mahoning County sent $1,075,373 in hotel bed tax revenues to the WRPA.

Two members of the Trumbull County Board of Commissioners, which sends $489,389 to the WRPA in hotel bed tax revenues, also said they were not told.

The Vindicator attended the port authority’s finance committee meeting Tuesday and the board meeting Wednesday this past week, and the loss of Allegiant’s service was not mentioned.

When asked by The Vindicator Friday morning about the news, WRPA Executive Director John Moliterno complained that the airport and the WRPA were “blindsided” by the news.

“We were informed by the media,” he said. “There was no straightforward conversation [with Allegiant].”

But after Dickten told The Vindicator Allegiant did give him a heads-up Aug. 18 and that he indeed had shared that information, Moliterno amended his story saying that while he knew of a “simple” conversation an Allegiant representative had with Dickten, he wanted it in official writing that the airline was leaving before publicly revealing the news.

Late Friday afternoon, in a news release, Moliterno made yet another effort to explain the situation, stating Allegiant “informally notified the Authority that it plans to discontinue regular air service in early January of 2018. ... Allegiant appears to have decided to pursue a new business model for their airline that de-emphasizes smaller markets like Youngstown.”

“I can tell you they 100 percent knew well in advance of today,” Krysta Levy, Allegiant spokeswoman, said Friday. “The airport was notified the same way we would notify any airport – over the phone. There is no distinction between ‘informal’ and ‘formal.’”

Allegiant also told The Vindicator at least one airport official and one county commissioner were aware of the service ending last week. Allegiant also confirmed the Aug. 18 conversation with Dickten.

“We didn’t make a public announcement about it,” added Levy. “In our discussions with the airport director, we agreed on the plan to let any affected customers know first so we could discuss their options with them.”

WRPA Chairman Marty Loney said there were rumblings of the loss of service, but “nothing official” was released.

“We certainly don’t want to see any activity at the airport diminish,” Loney said. “We have to find out what their intentions were and what we could have done better.”

WRPA Board Member Ron Klingle did not want to comment on when he found out about Allegiant leaving the airport.

Mahoning County Commissioner Anthony Traficanti said he was aware of rumblings, but he first heard news of Allegiant’s departure from a Vindicator reporter.

“I’m very sad to hear this,” he said. “That’s been something that we’ve struggled with ... getting a stable airline in there as an anchor for the airport.”

Carol Rimedio-Righetti, another Mahoning County commissioner, said she read about the decision in the newspaper. The decision impacts Mahoning County as well as Trumbull County, she said.

“I would have hoped that they could contact both counties and tell us that this was on the way,” she added. “[Dickten’s] the director of the airport; he probably should have done that.”

Trumbull County Commissioner Frank Fuda called the news “terrible” and said many people have complimented the service the company provided. He also learned of Allegiant’s decision from a Vindicator reporter.

“We just met with the port authority last week, and nobody mentioned anything about any problem with the airline,” he said. “That’s kind of disappointing, really.”

Trumbull County Commissioner Dan Polivka also did not receive word from the airport that Allegiant had plans to discontinue service. He said the county fought to bring the airline here, and its departure is not good news.

“Hopefully some negotiations or something could be worked out with them before they completely pull out,” he said. “We’re going to be reaching out to the airport manager and the port authority director to see if there’s anything we can do to try to keep them here, but it doesn’t look good.”

Mahoning County Commissioner David Ditzler and Trumbull County Commissioner Mauro Cantalamessa could not be reached for comment.

Allegiant came to the Youngstown airport in 2006 with service to Sanford/Orlando, Fla. In 2011, Myrtle Beach, S.C., and St. Petersburg, Fla., flights were added. In 2013, the local airport received its fourth Allegiant flight to Punta Gorda, Fla.

Flights to Punta Gorda out of Youngstown were put on hiatus in August 2016.

For several years, Youngs-town was the only local airport offering Allegiant flights. Today, Allegiant has flights at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and Pittsburgh International Airport. Allegiant had flights out of Akron-Canton Airport but stopped service there when it brought service to Cleveland.

Allegiant’s number of passengers at the Vienna airport dropped by 39 percent so far in comparing 2016 to 2017.

“Demand in the area was simply not high enough to continue service at this time,” Levy said in a statement. “Any passengers that have booked travel in or out of Youngstown after that date will be reached out to individually to be refunded or reaccommodated.”

The plan by airport officials is to get new service as soon as possible.

“The airport is still a very active viable facility,” Moliterno said. “Because of the fact that we have a long runway and the facilities, we do we very much want to get a commercial airline back. We aren’t going to stop.”