Aug. 16--Rickenbacker Airport is looking to bolster its commercial-flight schedule again, this time adding inexpensive service to the Orlando, Fla., market.
The airport announced yesterday that Allegiant Air will begin offering twice-weekly, nonstop flights to Orlando's Sanford International Airport on Oct. 25.
The flights are slated for year-round service, and fares will start at $79.99 one-way.Allegiant, based in Las Vegas, hopes to increase its flights to Orlando or add other markets from Columbus, but it doesn't have specific plans, said Eric Fletcher, manager of airports for Allegiant. Expanding service depends on how well the new service is received.
"We're looking for the community to embrace this, and then we'll go from there," Fletcher said.One observer expects more to come for the Columbus market. There's a good chance that Allegiant will expand service to at least a few of its more than 80 other markets, most likely a vacation destination, said Joseph Schwieterman, a transportation expert at DePaul University in Chicago.
"There's only a few markets that work with just a few weekly flights, but the model works for Florida or Arizona," he said.
Allegiant focuses on popular warm-weather destinations and operates out of smaller communities and secondary markets, said Jessica Wheeler, spokeswoman for the airline.
"We see the demand, and this market is popular," she said, referring to Orlando. Port Columbus offers four daily flights to Orlando International, the other airport in the Florida city: one by AirTran and three by Southwest.
Allegiant's low fares will keep other carriers in Columbus honest, Schwieterman said.
"It's great news for Columbus, because Southwest's fares are inching up," he said.Rickenbacker is estimated to make more than $10,000 in the first year after adding Allegiant. Most of the estimated revenue -- a little more than $127,000 -- is wiped away by incentives the airport offered Allegiant, said David Whitaker, vice president of business development for the Columbus Regional Airport Authority. Those incentives expire at the end of the first year.
This announcement comes days after Vision Airlines announced that it will end its seasonal flights out of Rickenbacker to Myrtle Beach, S.C., nearly two months earlier than expected. Vision is ending its twice-weekly service to Myrtle Beach on Labor Day instead of Oct. 29.
If Vision returns next year and Allegiant stays on, Rickenbacker could reach the 10,000-passenger threshold it needs to secure additional federal funding, Whitaker said.
Rickenbacker, which is better known for handling cargo, would see its funding from the Federal Aviation Administration rise from $150,000 to $1 million at the higher passenger level. The additional money would be used for capital improvements, Whitaker said.But even without Vision, if Allegiant can fill its flights every week, there's a good chance Rickenbacker will win the additional funding, Schwieterman said.
Vision, Rickenbacker's lone passenger air service, started in June, replacing Direct Air. Direct Air abruptly canceled its service to Myrtle Beach in March after its parent company filed for bankruptcy. The troubled airline was to have begun year-round service to Lakeland, Fla., in June.
Whitaker said past problems with carriers were more about the carriers than the market.
"It's a successful carrier and a successful market, and we think that's a winning combination," he said of the new service from Allegiant.
Tickets are available online at www.allegiantair.com.
@jacobkanclerz
Copyright 2012 - The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio
