Allegiant’s Bay Area nonstop to California takes flight

With a full flight to Oakland, California, on Wednesday afternoon, Allegiant Air plugged one of Memphis International Airport’s most pressing service gaps, at least until August.

“We’ve said we need the Bay area, we need the West Coast, and today is the day,” said Scott Brockman, president of the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority.

It’s a twice-weekly, summer seasonal nonstop scheduled to end Aug. 25, but airport officials hope it will be upgraded to year-round. The flight operates Wednesdays and Saturdays using an Airbus A319 with 156 seats.

Allegiant’s number crunchers will be watching, and they’re encouraged by Memphis’ early response, said the Las Vegas-based airline’s public relations manager Kim Schaefer.

“We’re always evaluating the service that we offer and oftentimes it does happen that there are seasonal routes that are so successful that we can take them on into year-round service,” Schaefer said.

“Of course, our planning and revenue team will be evaluating this route. So far we’ve been really thrilled with the results. Our hope is to continue growing here in Memphis and be able to offer the service folks are looking for.”

Before Wednesday, the San Francisco Bay area was the No. 1 Memphis destination not served by a nonstop, with 95 passengers a day each way traveling between Memphis and Bay Area airports San Francisco International and Oakland International.

Memphis airport officials said the Oakland flight, which joins an Allegiant nonstop to Los Angeles International, provides badly needed connectivity for passengers traveling to the West Coast.

Schaefer said with the Oakland addition, eight of Allegiant’s nine nonstop routes from Memphis are served by Airbus aircraft. Only the Orlando-Sanford, Florida, flight continues to use Alle-