Airport administrators filled in the details Thursday evening at a news conference at Ogren-Allegiance Park just before the Missoula Osprey took on the Ogden Raptors.
There, representatives from Allegiant Air announced that the new service will start Oct. 26, with two-way flights running twice a week courtesy of a 130-seat MD-80 jet.
Allegiant is promoting the new route with an introductory rate of $79 each way. That price will hold until Sept. 15 and is good for travel through Feb. 10, 2008, excepting certain blackout dates. After the introductory period, regular one-way fares on the route will start at $99.
The new service will run Mondays and Fridays, with flights leaving Missoula at 8:55 p.m. and arriving in Phoenix at 10:25 p.m., and the return flight leaving Phoenix at 4:55 p.m. and arriving in Missoula at 8:20 p.m.
“It's a pretty quick flight,” noted Allegiant spokeswoman Tyri Squyres.
The jets will land at Williams Gateway Airport, a smallish airport located in the Phoenix-Mesa area. Many customers will find it a convenient starting point from which to explore the rest of the state, Squyres predicted.
“This is an exciting new addition for our airline and our customers as we launch the only scheduled service between Missoula and Arizona,” Maurice J. Gallagher Jr., president and chief executive officer of Allegiant Air, said in a prepared statement.
The airline is a subsidiary of Las Vegas-based Allegiant Travel Co. (Nasdaq: ALGT), which also sells vacation packages. Founded in 1997, it has grown rapidly in recent years both in terms of passenger counts and revenues.
In the second quarter of 2007, for instance, Allegiant counted total revenues of $88.9 million - a nearly
50 percent increase over the second quarter of 2006, which earned the company
$59.7 million.
Allegiant's rising numbers are based on its aggressive expansion strategy, which focuses on linking mid-size markets with major airports throughout the country.
In fact, the new flight at Missoula International is just one of 13 airports at which the company is introducing its new Phoenix service. And earlier this month, Allegiant announced it will be branching service at 12 of its current markets to connect with Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Missoula, however, is not one of those.
The airline made its entrance into Missoula in March 2005 with nonstop service to Las Vegas, and has been encouraged by the consistently strong bookings it has seen for that flight, Squyres said.
“That's a good indicator of a good market,” she said. “Also, data shows Phoenix is an attractive destination for Missoula passengers.”
A passenger-demand analysis conducted for the Missoula airport showed that Phoenix is a popular market, Jensen said. Until now, however, passengers have had to catch connecting flights in Salt Lake City, Denver or even Seattle.
Consequently, airport authorities are anticipating strong interest in the new service, especially in the winter months, he added.
Traffic at Missoula International Airport is up overall, in large part because of all the new flights added this year.
Horizon Air added a fourth daily flight to Seattle beginning July 1, and dropped a stopover in Kalispell because Glacier Park International Airport picked up two direct connections of its own.
Also, United Airlines added a fourth daily roundtrip flight to Chicago, in addition to a fourth daily flight to Denver. It now sees more passengers than any other airline at the Missoula airport.
And in November, the airport expects to add another Las Vegas flight, running seven flights a week, although the daily schedule has not been worked out yet.
The airport's passenger count was up 12 percent in July in a month-to-month reckoning, and up 7 percent for the year to date, Jensen added.
“The national average is about 3 percent, so we're double that,” he said. “That's really important to us. We can add all the airline service in the world, but if people aren't using it, it really doesn't do us any good.”
Traffic will slow at the airport starting Aug. 27, when the first phase of a $6 million runway repaving project is set to begin. A section of the runway will close that Monday starting at 8 p.m. and will reopen again by 6 a.m. Friday, Aug. 31.
The second phase of construction will begin the day after Labor Day, and will close the middle portion of the runway from 8 p.m. Sept. 4 until 6 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 7.
The final leg of the project will begin at 8 p.m. the following Monday, and is expected to wrap up by Friday morning.
Reporter Tyler Christensen can be reached at 523-5215 or at tyler.christensen@lee.net
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