Allegiant’s expansion hits snag in New Hampshire
Allegiant’s Portsmouth, N.H., flights were delayed by the federal shutdown, but the airline hopes to have planes flying by Monday.
Fasten your seat belts, fliers. Allegiant Travel Co. kicked off its big expansion at Sanford airport, but the first few flights have come with a little turbulence.
The Las Vegas-based airline was set to begin flying last week from Portsmouth International Airport in New Hampshire to Orlando Sanford International Airport in Seminole County.
But the government shutdown delayed the installation of Transportation Security Administration screening equipment at the New Hampshire airport, which has been handling charter flights and government troop transports but hasn’t had scheduled commercial service since 2008.
That meant Portsmouth wasn’t ready to handle Allegiant’s passengers last Friday, when the flights were set to debut.
Allegiant took the delays in stride, moving the inaugural flight about 45 miles away to Manchester-Boston Regional Airport. The airline called passengers in advance so they could arrange for transportation to the substitute airport, andanAllegiantspokeswoman said Monday that the airline hopes to
Allegiant took the delays in stride, moving the inaugural flight about 45 miles away to Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.
have the flights operating from Portsmouth by next Monday.
“Making this first flight was important to us,” said Andrew Levy, Allegiant’s president. “We appreciate the efforts of Portsmouth and Manchester airports for working quickly to allow us to get our passengers to their destinations as scheduled.”
The twice-weekly flights are part of the largest expansion of passenger service in the history of Orlando Sanford International Airport. The Seminole County airport markets itself as a less-crowded alternative to giant Orlando International.
Early this year, Allegiant announced plans for nine new destinations from Semi- nole County. Among the new cities are Bismarck, N.D.; Charlottesville, Va.; Clarksburg, W.Va.; Concord, N.C.; Oklahoma City; Springfield, Ill.; St. Cloud, Minn.; and Tulsa, Okla. Service to Tulsa started Friday, andthe remaining flights will launch during the next two months. Some of the service is seasonal.
With its new service, Allegiant will fly to 53 cities from Sanford.
“Bookings on all of them have been looking good,” said Jessica Wheeler, anAllegiant spokeswoman. “We’re pleased with the demand we’ve been seeing.”
Allegiant’s business model revolves around flying customers from smaller airports to vacation destinations and selling them rental cars and hotel stays. Although a handful of Central Floridians may be heading north to visit family or catch the fall foliage, most of Allegiant’s customers are flying south in search of sunshine and Mickey Mouse.
“Typically, ourbusinessmodelisbasedon taking people on vacation,” Wheeler said. “Thewaywemarket the productis basedon taking people from Portsmouth to Orlando.”