Allegiant outta Green Bay, into Outagamie County
July 8th, 2008 at 04:59pm Thomas V. Bona
Allegiant Air is leaving Green Bay after three years, moving to Appleton 33 miles southwest. The reason? Higher costs at the Green Bay airport, Allegiant spokeswoman Tyri Squyres said.
The Outagamie County Regional Airport is bigger than I thought, with 285,000 passenger enplanements in 2006 (the last year on record for the FAA). It was the 152nd biggest airport in the country and fourth biggest in Wisconsin. (Green Bay, with 444,000 enplanements, was 125th in the country and third in Wisconsin.) Both are bigger than Chicago Rockford International Airport.
Outagamie - slogan, “Access the World” - already has regional jet service to Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Detroit, Cincinnati and Atlanta on four airlines. The flights to Las Vegas would be its longest.
Austin Straubel International Airport in Green Bay - slogan, “Austin Straubel International Airport,” apparently - still has flights to Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Las Vegas, Marquette, Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Phoenix.
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2 Comments Add your own
1. DrBear | July 10th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Say this for allegiant - it had the best announcement ceremony I ever got to cover when it started in Green Bay. Complete with a Las Vegas showgirl.
It was inevitable Green Bay./Brown County would increase the prices - they just remodeled all of the departure gates and are in the midst of rebuilding one of the two main runways. And Appleton, which has nowhere near the number of flights (and no jets larger than regional) is desperate for traffic.
2. Thomas V. Bona | July 10th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
Thanks for reading and weighing in, Ray.
Do you think Appleton waived or cut fees to woo Allegiant? Or is just that their fees are already lower than what Green Bay’s became?
Is this going to hurt GB much, or are they rolling along ok? Do they care?
It may not matter much because, like RFD, Wisconsin airports are really far away from Allegiant’s “world class leisure destinations” and Allegiant has generally been expanding in their shorter, fuel-sipping routes. I don’t see Appleton getting much more in the future, unless Allegiant develops a focus city in central Canada. Or Green Bay!
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