ST. GEORGE — Representatives from St. George Regional Airport, Allegiant airline and city officials on Tuesday announced the addition of a flight between St. George and Phoenix-Mesa Gateway.
Flights will operate twice per week on the new route beginning Nov. 9, which will bring approximately 18,000 additional travelers through the airport in the next year, said Dustin Call, manager of airport affairs for Allegiant, a Las Vegas-based airline founded in 1999.
To celebrate its new location, Allegiant is temporarily offering a promotional fare with tickets as low as $49 one-way on the new year-round route.
“We think St. George has the opportunity to attract passengers from some of our different western destinations,” Call said. “We’re really excited about the prospect of Zion National Park being so close to St. George. There’s close to 5 million visitors a year, and on Allegiant they can get there for less.”
SkyWest Airlines now operates United Airlines, Delta and American Airlines out of the airport, offering flights to Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Denver and Los Angeles, making Mesa the airport’s fifth destination.
While there are already flights from St. George to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, the hope is that Allegiant’s more affordable fares will attract a wider range of travelers to the area.
St. George Mayor Jon Pike said he hopes this new route will open opportunities for more airlines and more destinations.
“There are other carriers that I think will be watching, and I think already are watching, how the existing flights are doing and they’ll watch this one to Mesa. I think we’re on the map and people are paying attention.”
Pike said he would like to see flights to the California Bay Area in the future. He thinks San Francisco, San Jose or Oakland would bring in more flyers to St. George.
Call said Allegiant is always looking for new routes and often analyzes a destination for years before planning flights there to make sure it will be right for the smaller company.
“If the opportunities are there, we’re going to explore them.”
The flights to Mesa will not require any kind of expansion of the airport, but with more visitors flying into St. George every year, there are plans to expand passenger parking in the next year and rental car parking lot in the future.
In addition to the new flights between St. George and Mesa, Allegiant announced Tuesday that it will be flying between Provo, Utah, and Tucson, Arizona, twice weekly beginning Nov. 16. The company is offering the same $49 one-way fares promotion as in St. George.
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Oh no, not Alliegant…I’ll drive, thanks.
Why are flights out of SGU so much more expensive than LAS, promotional fares notwithstanding? Example: lowest fares for round trip to HNL for dates in September–SGU $757, LAS $426. The SGU flight has two stops and the Vegas flight has one. With this kind of discrepancy, I will continue to drive to Vegas and pocket the difference. You won’t see me at the local airport until this situation changes.
Easy. Las Vegas has cheap flights because it is a major tourist destination. Pure volume. Unless for business, I always fly from Vegas.
I do understand why flights out of Vegas are so much cheaper… extra supply, high competition, economies of scale, etc.. But go to Delta’s website and compare SGU-SLC and CDC-SLC. You’ll be amazed how much cheaper it is to fly from Cedar to SLC. By as much as 45% cheaper! Certainly doesn’t cost the airline 45% more for the extra 5 minutes in the air… So I’m guessing SGU is charging some crazy fees that the airline passes onto the passengers. If the Mayor really wants to see future expansion and additional routes those fees need to come down. But I’m just guessing… Does anyone have any info that can back that up? I’d love to use SGU more but it’s just too expensive!
Well then, we won’t be seeing you at the local airport. Airlines have to pay for airplanes, fuel, pilots, ramp workers, flight attendants, etc, etc. All those things cost money. Vegas has a lot of things working in its favor here. Volume, volume, volume, flights that will always be full, and most likely a lot of money being paid indirectly as incentives by casinos. None of that is going to happen here.
We often find that running the price through one of the online flight booking sites will allow us to fly directly in and out of SGU for maybe an extra hundred or so. That’s well worth it when I don’t have to pay for gas and airport parking in Vegas, or pay the cost of a shuttle. It’s also nice to land and be home, rather than faced with a nighttime drive through the desert when I’m already sleepy.
At the very least, I would expect city/county officials guaranteed Allegiant a profit for providing this addition. After all it’s been done before.
I would like to know what kind of Aircraft they will be using??? Doing some quick math; “18,000 additional travelers through the airport in the next year” with “2 flights per week” (104 flights/ year) = 173 passengers (travellers) per flight. Will they actually be using their MD-88s (fully loaded) for these flights?
Allegiant is getting away from the MD-88s, with the remaining MD’s supposed to be out of their fleet by the end of 2018. They’re transitioning to a full fleet of Airbus’s. Either the A319 or the A320 — Mostly being purchased used, but a few were purchased new. But either way, yeah it sounds like they’re ‘expecting’ full or nearly full planes. That would be great for them, but I don’t see it happening soon.
You’re right. According to SeatGuru.com, the largest (and oldest, MD80) aircraft they use only has 151 seats, so the math doesn’t add up. I think the statement in the article came from public relations. Phoenix/Mesa is sort of a hub for them. I only see this route working out if one is connecting on to, say, Sanford, FL (Orlando) or something like that.
BTW, SGU dot com, signing in has become ridiculously hard. Was all the fuss frigging needed?
Agree I fly out of Vegas it’s cheaper for sure. Allegiant charges which seat you pick and bags. I took Allegiant once and coming back we had to take another plane jet blue because something was wrong with the plane. I hope they upgraded their equipment.