As travel continues to open up across the country and in Austin, airlines are continuing to ramp up their available flights into and out of Central Texas.
Allegiant Airlines on Tuesday said it is adding seven nonstop routes at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, with the new options to begin service in the fall.
The new routes will be to Amarillo via Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport; Louisville, Kentucky, through Louisville International Airport; Orange County, Calif., through John Wayne Airport; Provo, Utah, through Provo Airport; Sioux Falls, South Dakota, via Sioux Falls Regional Airport; Springfield, Missouri via Springfield-Branson National Airport and Tulsa, Oklahoma, via Tulsa International Airport.
The new travel options, which are scheduled to begin service Nov. 18, will operate twice weekly and are expected to bring thousands of travelers to the Austin area.
More: Allegiant plans $75 million operations center at Austin airport, will create 89 jobs
More: American, Alaska Airlines add routes to Austin travelers' growing flight options
"We're excited to add access from seven new cities to Austin, one of the most popular destinations in our network," Drew Wells, Allegiant's senior vice president of revenue and planning, said in a written statement. "The addition of these routes will bring thousands of new travelers to the area while also providing several new flight options for locals.
Allegiant said introductory fares will start at $39 one-way for the new routes, but to get that rate customers have to book by Wednesday of this week for travel through Feb. 14.
The Las Vegas-based carrier, which focuses on low-cost flights and is the ninth-largest commercial airline in the United States, announced in April that it plans to establish an operations center at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport's South Terminal. The airline said the operations center will result in an investment of $75 million and nearly 90 new jobs. The Austin operations center's estimated start date is Nov. 18, the airline previously said.
Allegiant has been offering flights at ABIA since 2013. The airline flies from the airport's South Terminal, which opened in 2017 and is separate from the main Barbara Jordan Terminal, and is owned and operated by LoneStar Airport Holdings.
Allegiant's new Austin flights follow close behind American Airlines and Alaska Airlines, who earlier this month announced new Austin routes of their own.
American added 10 domestic and four international flights to and from ABIA beginning this fall. The new flights include three-times daily service to El Paso; twice-daily service to Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Mo., and St. Louis; and daily service to Jacksonville, Fla.; Oklahoma City; Reno, Nev.; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Tulsa, Okla.
More: Travel is back and Austin is live again, but recovery will take time
American's new international flight options include nonstop service to Cancun, Mexico; Liberia, Costa Rica; Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; and Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
Alaska Airlines also announced the first nonstop service from Austin to the heart of the Coachella Valley beginning Nov. 19, connecting Palm Springs, Calif., with the Texas state capitol with flights available five times a week.
Passenger traffic at Austin's airport plunged 63% in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The airport had about 6.5 million passengers last year compared with 17.3 million passengers in 2019, its highest-ever passenger travel year.
The 2020 passenger count is the lowest number for Austin-Bergstrom since the airport opened in 1999. Prior to COVID-19, the airport had recorded 10 consecutive years of record-setting passenger growth.
But there are signs of recovery: during the University of Texas graduation weekend in May and NASCAR events, local hotel rates and occupancies were near 2019 levels, according to Visit Austin. On Memorial Day, passenger traffic rose to 25,354 at the Austin airport, the busiest day since the pandemic began.
Additional material from American-Statesman reporter Lori Hawkins.
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