Allegiant to open Austin, TX base in 4Q21

Allegiant Air (G4, Las Vegas McCarran) will invest USD75 million to open a new base at the South Terminal of Austin Bergstrom Int’l on November 18, 2021 and station three of its A320-200s and 89 employees at the airport. The low-cost carrier began operating at Austin – the capital city of Texas and world-renowned for live music, events, and cultural arts – in October 2013. It currently offers 14 nonstop routes to Orlando Sanford and Destin-Fort Walton Beach (Florida); Cincinnati Int’l (Ohio); Memphis Int’l and Knoxville McGhee Tyson (Tennessee); Albuquerque (New Mexico); Pittsburgh Int’l (Pennsylvania); Indianapolis Int’l (Indiana); Des Moines (Iowa); Asheville (North Carolina); Grand Rapids, MI (Michigan); Bozeman (Montana) (new service starting May 27, 2021) and Bentonville, Arkansas (new service starting July 2, 2021), as well as Las Vegas (Nevada). Since establishing service, it has flown more than 1.1 million passengers through Austin. Allegiant operates an “out-and-back” network, with exclusively nonstop flights – meaning each day’s flying starts and ends at a base, rather than connecting traffic through busy hub airports. The airline, in a statement, said having locally-based aircraft would mean additional flexibility for flight times and future route opportunities. The carrier planned to immediately begin hiring pilots, flight attendants, mechanics, and ground personnel to support the operations. Owned and operated by the City of Austin, Austin is a Class C international airport serving the Greater Austin metropolitan area. Located 8km southeast of downtown Austin, it covers 1,717 ha. With an elevation of 156m MSL, it offers two runways and three helipads. Runway 17R/35L measures 3,734m x 46m and Runway 17L/35R 2,743m x 46m. It has an annual throughput of 140,426 commercial flights and 16,025 air taxi operations, according to SkyVector.