The active summer holiday travel season is set to come to an end soon after several major airlines experienced a significant surge in passenger travel demand within the leisure segment. Allegiant’s leisure targeting ultra-low-cost business model and point-to-point route network continues to lead to an extensive expansion as the airline prepares for the upcoming fall and winter travel seasons.

Earlier this week, the ultra-low-cost carrier revealed its extensive flight schedule including plans to fly 22 new nonstop routes from its existing operating bases. For this fall, Allegiant plans to expand its route network to 25 cities across the U.S., mainly focused on tourism- and leisure-centric destinations. 

“A hallmark of Allegiant’s service is to connect travelers to warmer destinations where they can enjoy a variety of outdoor leisure activities,” Drew Wells, Allegiant’s senior vice president of revenue and network planning, said in a statement. “And we’ve continued that tradition with this expansion by giving customers more affordable, nonstop options to visit Florida, Arizona and California during the fall and winter seasons.”

The carrier’s new routes are set to inaugurate between October and December, during the fall holiday travel season before the winter festivities arrive at the end of the year. The carrier will follow its past trend of providing service to smaller airports with new flights operating to Palm Springs, Calif.; Fort Walton Beach, Fla; Punta Gorda, Fla; Sarasota, Fla; Provo, Utah and Austin, among many other destinations. In addition, the Las Vegas-based carrier plans to expand in larger cities such as Fort Lauderdale, Phoenix and Minneapolis.

The Airline’s Dual City

Allegiant has experienced a rapid increase in new routes as the airline continues to expand its route network after the peak of the Covid-19 ordeal last summer and the push for vaccinations earlier this year. While the airline has entered other cutthroat and competitive markets or cities such as Los Angeles, Fort Lauderdale, Houston and Orlando, the airline has established a firm, solid operating base with daily flight operations.

However, one of the carrier’s key operating bases in the west will soon see flights operating out of the city’s principal airport. Prior to this summer, in May, the airline announced its plans for flight operations out of Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport, starting in mid-October with the first-time service to California and Utah.

Once the new flight operations begin, the carrier will officially be a new entrant to the city’s bustling airport, which is a hub for American’s heaving operations. Furthermore, it will certainly be interesting for the airline in terms of how they and passengers respond after flights begin, as Allegiant already operates its prime operations out of Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, the city’s secondary airport.

Ultimately, the ultra-low-cost carrier has set its eyes on future operations beyond this summer, and they are in the process of figuring out how to handle the upcoming passenger travel demand for the end of this year. However, one of the main obstacles the airline continues to face is entry to newer markets, as the carrier is one of the smaller ultra-low-cost carriers. On the other hand, its rapid expansion of new flight routes will provide the airline with opportunities to topple those barriers in the months ahead.

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Benjamin Pham

Benjamin has had a love for aviation since a young age, growing up in Tampa with a strong interest in airplane models and playing with them. When he moved to the Washington, D.C. area, Benjamin took part in aviation photography for a couple of years at Gravelly Point and Dulles Airport, before dedicating planespotting to only when he traveled to the other airports. He is an avid, world traveler, having been able to reach 32 countries, yearning to explore and understand more cultures soon. Currently, Benjamin is an Air Transporation Management student at Arizona State University. He hopes to enter the airline industry to improve the passenger experience and loyalty programs while keeping up to how technology is being integrated into airports.

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