Allegiant: Myrtle Beach routes not a change in strategy

Add comment March 4th, 2009

Had a brief email exchange with Allegiant Air spokeswoman Tyri Squyres, who said the announcement of two routes to Myrtle Beach - including one with direct competition with Direct Air - isn’t a change in their strategy to court competition. The competitive route, from Allentown, Penn., has been in their plans for a long time. Also, she noted - as I reported earlier - that they used to have more competition in their system than they do now.

Myrtle Beach’s airport director, Bob Kemp, is excited at Allegiant’s new presence. He said there’s plenty of interest from the northeast and West Virginia on trips to Myrtle Beach, so there’s plenty of room for air service.

“We’ve been talking to Allegiant for over two years and asking them to consider us, and we’re just delighted,” Kemp said. “We would hope that these first two markets of theirs are successful and that they’ll continue to grow their presence.”

Allegiant Air decides to directly compete with Direct Air (in Pennsylvania)

2 comments March 4th, 2009

As astute blog reader JA noted before, Allegiant Air is going to compete with Direct Air on Allentown-Myrtle Beach.

This is significant on two levels:

• Allegiant tends to avoid competition. According to an airline presentation last month, Allegiant only had direct competition on two routes at the end of 2008, versus nine routes at the end of 2007. The presentation noted ‘To date, only one airline has entered our routes. That attempt lasted year and has not been repeated. Other airlines appear to see us as an annoyance, not a threat.”
• As I noted yesterday, Allegiant and Direct Air are the two biggest players at RFD. If Allegiant decides to compete with Direct Air in more spots, Rockford could be one of them…

What think you, fair readers?