Allegiant to suspend some summer flights out of Gateway

[Grandpa +65]

Allegiant to suspend some summer flights out of Gateway

Art Thomason
The Arizona Republic
Feb. 4, 2008 03:08 PM
Allegiant Air officials are suspending some flights to and from Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport during July and August.

The carrier is taking the step because fewer people fly to the Valley in the summer and lower passenger numbers wouldn't offset the high costs of fuel, Allegiant spokeswoman Tyri Squyres said Monday.

For local residents, the cutbacks come at the height of vacation season when people are

Service between Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport and 5 of the 13 cities served by the carrier from the Mesa-based airport will be eliminated during the two months and restored in September or early October, Squyres said.

Flights to and from Rockford and Peoria, Ill.; Fort Wayne, Ind.; and Green Bay, Wis., will be suspended because the cities are the longest routes for the carrier from Gateway - more than 1,300 miles.

Stockton, Calif., service will be suspended because demand for service is expected to be low, she said.

She said Allegiant has been "micro-managing" its scheduled service for years "as it pays attention to the market to keep our planes full and our fares low."

"We've done this for a number of years and it worked successfully," she said. "If we had four or five flights a week to and from these destinations we may be able to narrow them down to one or two a week. Our schedules are not extended to that point yet."

The cuts come just after the parent company of Allegiant posted a fourth-quarter profit despite rising fuel prices plaguing the industry.

 

[chperplt]

We do this all year from every base.

No need to continue a full schedule when the loads typically drop off at the base.

 

[BEECH-SLAPPED]

Yup. Vegas is a year-round destination. Phoenix, while a nice city, is just plain hot in the summer. People can sweat at home for free.

 

[Huskers1]

The schedule gets reduced in the summer quite a bit in Florida too. After all the blue hairs head back north, buisness slows. Seems smart to me. If the demand slows, cut supply. Basic high school economics. No big news here.

 

[On Your Six]

How will this impact hiring for the IWA domicile? Could some IWA-based pilots do TDY elsewhere or will IWA remain a smaller base?

 

[Propsync]

The schedule gets reduced in the summer quite a bit in Florida too. After all the blue hairs head back north, buisness slows. Seems smart to me. If the demand slows, cut supply. Basic high school economics. No big news here.

One of the most expensive aspects of service is frequency. This is a great proactive move by management. It may suck for those trying to get on, but you'd rather the company move frequency or cancel frequency than fly empty.

I have slowly started to hear people ask me 'Hey, what do you know about Allegiant?' or 'I fly Allegiant and it was great'. My dad had wondered about going to FL out of RFD. I said why not? Free parking, no traffic. Sounds like you folks are doing fairly well right now.

 

[chperplt]

How will this impact hiring for the IWA domicile? Could some IWA-based pilots do TDY elsewhere or will IWA remain a smaller base?

The only real impact will be in lower line values. Days off will go up and reserve pilots will get abused a little less.

If the schedule ramps up elsewhere, a week or two (or a full month) of TDY is always a possibility, but they hate spending money on hotels so it's always kept to a minimum if at all.