Friday, Nov. 19, 2010 | 4:45 p.m.
Sun Coverage
Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air announced today it would begin flying nonstop routes next month between Las Vegas and Long Beach, Calif.
The company is making announcements at simultaneous media events in Las Vegas and Long Beach this afternoon.
Allegiant also confirmed today that it is delaying the start-up of flights between the West Coast and Hawaii until 2012.
Allegiant is kicking off the Long Beach flights, which begin Dec. 15, with a two-for-one air and hotel package that must be purchased by Saturday for travel completed by Feb. 16. One-way tickets were available for Long Beach flights on the airline’s website today for $20 without taxes and fees.
Allegiant will fly four times a week between McCarran International Airport and Long Beach Airport. On Sundays and Fridays, flights will leave Las Vegas at 5:55 p.m., arriving in Long Beach at 7 p.m. Thursday flights will leave McCarran at 6:25 p.m., arriving at 7:30 p.m. Monday flights leave Las Vegas at 7 a.m., arriving in Long Beach at 8:05 a.m.
The 65-minute return flights from Long Beach leave Sundays and Fridays at 7:50 p.m., Thursdays at 8:20 p.m., and Mondays at 8:45 a.m.
Allegiant will use 150-passenger twin-engine MD-80 jets on the route.
The airline, a subsidiary of Allegiant Travel Co., has been successful linking small cities to resort destinations. Allegiant began serving Long Beach Airport on July 1 with flights to and from Bellingham, Wash., Colorado Springs, Colo., and Idaho Falls, Idaho.
The flights between Las Vegas and Long Beach are the airline’s first linking two resort cities it serves. Allegiant will go toe-to-toe with JetBlue Airways, currently the only airline serving Long Beach from Las Vegas.
JetBlue has 18 flights a week between Las Vegas and Long Beach. New York-based JetBlue hasn’t given any indication that it would attempt to match Allegiant’s fares. JetBlue’s lowest fares between the two cities is $49 one way before taxes and fees.
In a separate matter, Allegiant confirmed a report in a Honolulu newspaper that it is pushing back plans to begin its Hawaii service to mid-2012.
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported today that Allegiant executives told an investors conference that the certification of its aircraft to fly Hawaii routes was going to take longer than they had expected.
Getting Extended-range Twin-engine Operational Performance Standards certification – necessary for flights over the Pacific – is a lengthy process that Allegiant had hoped would run simultaneously with putting the Boeing 757 on its operating certificate. The airline also needs “flag status” to operate beyond the 48 contiguous states.
Allegiant announced late last year that it was acquiring 757s that it would use to link Hawaii with mainland destinations it didn’t identify. Allegiant has two of the 757s and a spokeswoman said today that it hasn’t been determined what the company would do with them during the certification process – but flying them between Las Vegas and other destinations is an option.
“We do not yet know how we will be utilizing those aircraft,” Tyri Squyres said in an e-mail. “There are many good opportunities, some in Vegas, some elsewhere. Recognizing the opportunity to sell customers hotel rooms in Las Vegas, the destination is certainly a good option.”
Two more 757s the airline is expected to get next year are expected to be leased to a European carrier for 12 to 18 months.
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