Airline plans Las Vegas-Long Beach flights

Friday, Oct. 15, 1999 | 11:36 a.m.

A small California air carrier that will pull out of the Lake Tahoe market next week will begin serving Long Beach, Calif., instead.

Allegiant Air, which currently operates one round trip six days a week each to Lake Tahoe and Fresno, Calif., from McCarran International Airport, now also plans service between Las Vegas and Long Beach.

Allegiant will run its last flights to Lake Tahoe Airport Monday.

Jim Patterson, president of the Fresno company, said he'll soon announce details and schedules involving Long Beach. Patterson said flights between Fresno and Las Vegas have been successful but a lack of business will close down the Lake Tahoe effort after 4 1/2 months of operations and a $1 million investment.

Patterson's airline, which operates three twin-engine DC-9 jets carrying between 89 and 115 passengers, will begin serving Long Beach three months after WinAir Airlines, a Salt Lake City-based carrier, went out of business. Five of WinAir's 14 daily flights from Long Beach were to Las Vegas.

In addition to operating flights to and from its Fresno headquarters, Allegiant Air runs charter flights for the athletic departments of the University of Nevada, Reno, and Fresno State University.