Allegiant to Suspend Duluth to Orlando

[thewesterberg]

Bummer for summer travelers from Northern Minnesota and Northern Wisconsin:

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/191401/

If you were planning a family vacation to Disney World this summer taking Allegiant’s direct flights to Orlando, you’re out of luck.

You’ll have to find another way to get there.

Allegiant Air says it will temporarily suspend its twice-weekly Duluth-Orlando Sanford service beginning May 2 because of rising jet fuel costs and a summer lull in travel. Company President Andrew Levy promises the service will be up and running again by Thanksgiving, but an exact start date isn’t on the Allegiant schedule yet.

It’s not because Allegiant isn’t happy with Duluth.

“We’ve very pleased with how Duluth has performed,” Levy said. Duluth ridership for Allegiant’s direct flights to and from Orlando and Las Vegas were up almost 50 percent in 2010 over 2009, according to the airline.

And on average the Duluth flights were 91 percent full, Allegiant data shows.

But rising fuel costs are forcing Allegiant, with its niche of leisure destinations, to temporarily cut back to avoid losses, he said.

“In the last 60 days, jet fuel costs have increased 25 to 30 percent,” he said. “We don’t believe we can pass on that cost to the consumer. We’re going away in May and coming back in November, in time for Thanksgiving.”

The loss of service shouldn’t have much of an impact on the Duluth International Airport, said Brian Ryks, executive director of the Duluth Airport Authority.

“On a positive note, by not including low demand months in their schedule, our market will look stronger,” he said.

The suspension won’t affect Allegiant’s popular Duluth-Las Vegas flights. Nor will the suspension affect passengers like Rachel Boyd and her family, who only travel to Orlando in February.

“It’s a great thing, especially with kids, to do a direct flight,” said Boyd, of Ironwood, Mich. “You don’t have to go so far. It’s convenient.”

Bob Carlson’s last flight to Florida was time-consuming, with 3½-hour layovers in Detroit each way.

“I absolutely am looking forward to the direct flight,” said Carlson, of Hibbing, as he waited at the Duluth airport Monday with a friend to board a flight to Orlando.

While Carlson was understanding of the airline’s reasons for suspending summer service, Allan Stawicki of Cable, Wis., was not.

“I don’t like to see anything canceled,” Stawicki said before boarding. “Why cancel the flight? The reasons are not good enough.”

The Duluth-Orlando service, however, will continue to be seasonal, Levy said. But this year’s suspension will be longer than last year’s, which was from September to November.

 

[snels]

Thanks for the info. We were thinking about using Allegiant for our fall trip.

I wish Duluth could attract and keep more airlines to the area. We don't have much of a choice if we want to fly out of DLH.

 

[thewesterberg]

Thankfully they're not leaving, just suspending their Orlando flights for the summer months. The Las Vegas one is going to keep going. And there was a link by the article talking about how Allegiant is looking to add a Duluth to Phoenix route at some point.

It was sure nice having a direct flight option to Orlando though. I flew it for the first time last June... I loved not having to drive to the Cities. I had been checking just to see if they'd have any of the $19 flights to Orlando like I got last summer and noticed they didn't have anything past May, even though the disclaimer at the to said you could book through August. This would explain it! And for us, flying Delta or United from Duluth is pretty cost prohibitive so we end up in MSP almost all the time.