Allegiant Air expands again - but out west
April 16th, 2008 at 02:34pm Thomas V. Bona
It’s been a few weeks of surprises in the airline industry, but chalk this up as a pleasant surprise. Allegiant Air announced today it’ll start offering seasonal flights from Bellingham, Wash., to both San Francisco and San Diego. It’s a rare announcement of growth from an airline. Then again, Allegiant is pretty rare in that it’s still turning a profit amid high fuel prices.
This doesn’t directly benefit Chicago Rockford International Airport and I wouldn’t expect us to gain that California service, at least not in the foreseeable future. Allegiant is trying to keep its routes shorter, and recently expanded its Bellingham operation to base aircraft there. Bellingham already is the only Allegiant city to fly to Reno, and used to be the only one to go to Lake Tahoe, Nev., so there’s precedent.
It’s good for us in that Allegiant continues to exhibit a solid business and growth model, which stabilizes its existing routes. Also, it shows a willingness to do special routes not involving “focus cities”, so perhaps there’s hope of future routes from RFD to cities that are less than 1,000 miles away…
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4 Comments Add your own
1. stretch cunningham | April 16th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Good news but not for Rockford
2. ANCJason | April 17th, 2008 at 8:46 am
It also exemplifies Allegiant’s willingness to establish seasonal stations. Niagara Falls, Jackson Hole, etc. all may be Allegiant destinations from RFD. I wouldn’t discount San Francisco or San Diego from RFD, either. If Vegas works four times a week, then so would the West Coast.
3. Thomas V. Bona | April 17th, 2008 at 9:21 am
Well, I suspect it will be Southern Skyways that does Niagara and/or Jackson Hole, but we’ll see.
You make a good point, Jason (as always - wanna write my next column for me?). I don’t mean to say Allegiant would *never* consider RFD-SFO or RFD-SAN, but I don’t see it for a while. While LAS works now, it’s a “mature” market that was developed over time… and Allegiant has shown it won’t have a ton of patience on new, long-haul routes that don’t make enough money. RFD-SFO wouldn’t get the time needed to make it a success right now, but perhaps later on.
Again, the key takeaway is that RFD’s largest carrier appears sound financially, willing to grow and willing to think “outside the box” on route development. While not paying immediate dividends for us, that’s good news long-term.
4. ANCJason | April 17th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Good point on the LAS service. I think Allegiant is taking a hard look at RFD for new growth potential. RFD was never that far behind Bellingam in service frequency by Allegiant, so it only stands to reason that Allegiant is cultivating new ideas for future RFD service.
Have you noticed that Allegiant has covered every base from Bellingham that a short-lived startup airline called “Western” attempted? http://www.airlineroutemaps.com/USA/Western_airline_bellingham.shtml
Western also had a brief route to Reno, but Allegiant apparently maintained that market share. Notice that Ontario is the only place Allegiant doesn’t fly to. Knowing that the LA/Ontario Int’l Airport is working hard to court new service, have you also wondered if this could be a candidate for a new Allegiant focus city?
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