Aug. 15--The Greater St. Cloud Development Corp. plans to announce Tuesday new service to a leisure destination from St. Cloud Regional Airport.
Al Kremers, chairman of the Greater St. Cloud Development Corp.'s air service corps, will join GSDC President Patti Gartland and Mayor Dave Kleis for an airport news conference at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday for the announcement.
"We're really pleased with the success we're having with our current leisure service," Kremers said, referring to Allegiant Air flights to Mesa, Ariz., that have been flying since mid-December. "We continue to get a good response from a long way around St. Cloud, and it's having a significant impact on our negotiations for additional business and leisure routes."
He said the airline making Tuesday's announcement won't have representatives at the news conference. The timing of the announcement is "being dictated by the airline," Kremers said.
Kleis will make Tuesday's announcement. He reiterated Wednesday that it is another step toward the long-term goal of daily air service to a regional hub.
"That has been and remains our number one priority," Kleis said. Airport Manager Bill Towle would only echo Kleis' comments.
Because the announcement is of additional service, not necessarily an additional carrier, that could mean Allegiant is adding a destination. Allegiant focuses its business on connecting small cities with big leisure destinations -- primarily in the southwest and Florida.
Kremers said the organization is "working with a number of airlines regarding leisure service. We still have a big net out there."
Allegiant has been fairly successful with its efforts here so far, enjoying steady demand for space on its twice-weekly flights from St. Cloud to Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. The average number of passengers per flight have ranged from a high of 152 in February and March to a low of 141 in May. The seven-month average through July was 149, on planes that typically have a capacity of about 155 people.
"That really surprised me in July -- because it's 77 (degrees) here and 107 (degrees) in Phoenix -- but we've got a promotion with Madden's (lake resort near Brainerd) going, so maybe there were a lot of people coming up from Arizona," Kremers said. "We also have the newer planes, now. We started out with the MD-80, and now they've switched over to the Airbus, the 319, at the end of March. It's more fuel efficient, making the flights even more worthwhile."
From this week through early October, Allegiant is cutting back to one flight per week to Mesa. The airline will resume its twice-weekly flights in October.
The GSDC in partnership with the city has been working for almost two years in an effort to return daily air service from St. Cloud to a regional hub. Northwest Airlines and later Delta conducted as many as five flights a day to Minneapolis, but that stopped on Dec. 31, 2009 -- just months after a $5 million, 9,000-square-foot airport expansion and renovation project was unveiled.
The GSDC has elicited about $7 million in travel commitments from local businesses that remain set aside to attract service to Chicago, as does a $750,000 Small Community Air Service Development grant.
"We're still working very diligently on that and, in fact, we had contact as recently as (Tuesday)," Kremers said of talks with a carrier for service to Chicago. "We have a number of things out in that respect, and we have a backup in the event that our prime one doesn't go. Let's hope we have another announcement shortly after this one."
Copyright 2013 - St. Cloud Times, Minn.
