Allegiant Adds Portland Flight from Billings, Meeting 'Pent-Up' Demand

Feb. 9—Beginning this spring, Allegiant Air will add a direct flight from Billings to Portland, Oregon.

"It's great for us," said Kevin Ploehn, director of Billings Logan International Airport.

Residents in this corner of Montana are ready to travel, he said, describing people's "pent up" desire to get out as the COVID-19 pandemic reaches the year mark. The new flight to Portland will be the fifth Allegiant destination offered through Billings this summer; Allegiant also flies from Billings to Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas and Phoenix.

"There's demand out there," Ploehn said.

The budget carrier will begin twice-weekly flights to Portland beginning May 7. One-way fares on the route will begin as low as $59, the carrier announced Tuesday.

" Portland is a gateway to exceptional outdoor recreation opportunities, from world-class mountain climbing to kayaking," said Drew Wells, Allegiant's senior vice president of revenue. "We're excited to connect these two cities through affordable fares and convenient flight options."

Last January, the Billings Airport announced new summer flights to the Pacific Northwest from Alaska Airlines and an additional flight to Dallas, Texas, through American Airlines. The pandemic and the travel restrictions that came with it left a lot of those flights nearly empty.

American Airlines still offers one daily flight to Dallas out of Billings; Ploehn said it's been surprisingly popular. During the summer the flight was running roughly 80% full.

In fact, amid the pandemic the Billings airport stayed busier than other larger airports in other parts of the country. During the summer, Billings was operating at 58% of where its 2019 traffic had been while other airports were operating closer to 30% of a year ago, Ploehn said.

He's hopeful travel will pick back up this summer, but much of that will depend on what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention prescribes for safe travel in the coming months. Either way, the new flights out of Billings bode well for the area.

"Every airline right now is just trying to make a buck," Ploehn said.

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