Allegiant Air cutting flights elsewhere in the state

Add comment November 10th, 2007

Allegiant Air announced yesterday it’s cutting service from Las Vegas to six airports, including Springfield, Champaign and Marion, because of high fuel prices. An Allegiant spokeswoman said the passenger levels were fine but the long-distance trips cost too much with oil prices hitting close to $100 a barrel.

Rockford service remains, perhaps saved by the fact that planes are going out around 90 percent of capacity. Allegiant now flies four times a week between Rockford and Las Vegas, but that is scheduled to increase to five times a week in February and six times a week during the peak travel times of March and April.

Even with the cuts, Allegiant still has several Las Vegas routes that are as long or longer than its Rockford route, so there’s no reason to believe we’re next. Still, I’ll be checking in with RFD and Allegiant officials to get more word. And it’s never a good sign when fuel costs force airlines to cut service.