Inside Allegiant’s Huge Expansion – 125 New Routes In 2 Years

Allegiant has added 125 domestic routes since 2019, with 564 to operate this year. It has added eight airports but cut five, with a very clear focus on larger cities and non-traditional destinations. Classic Allegiant airports and destinations have generally seen capacity cuts.

Much has happened since 2019, including Allegiant adding 125 domestic routes for a total of 564 routes scheduled to operate in the current year.

Nashville to Bozeman is the Allegiant’s thickest added route, with the 1,435-mile service having over 40,000 seats this year, OAG highlights, nicely above the carrier’s average capacity. Allegiant began it in May 2020, and it’ll operate up to four-weekly this June and early July. Booking data shows that over 17,000 round-trip point-to-point passengers flew between the two in 2019, very easily simulatable with non-stop service and low fares.

Bozeman is a long-standing airport in Allegiant’s network, and this year it will have seven routes, up from three in pre-coronavirus 2019. Three are coming this summer – Austin (May 27th), Oakland (May 28th), and San Diego (June 3rd) – with Allegiant’s seats at the Montana airport up nearly two-thirds (63%) over 2019. These will be somewhat more bidirectional along with Nashville, not just people visiting the fantastic Yellowstone.

Nashville top for Allegiant’s added routes

Nashville is by far Allegiant’s number-one airport for added routes, with 17 more this current year than in 2019. It is followed by Destin/Fort Walton Beach (11), San Diego (nine), Houston Hobby (nine), Las Vegas (eight), Orange County (eight), Portland (seven), Boston (seven), and Grand Rapids (seven). Some are new or pretty new airports in Allegiant’s network, and the greater focus on larger cities is clear.

Nashville is Allegiant’s 11th-largest airport in 2021, with 643,000 seats, just behind Knoxville but just ahead of Sarasota and Grand Rapids. Nashville has risen considerably – up from 22nd in 2019 – as capacity has more than doubled. Allegiant now has 30 routes from Nashville, but the carrier still has less than 4% of the Tennessee airport’s seats, currently marginally ahead of Spirit, data from OAG indicates.

The likes of Appleton, Des Moines, Fargo, Flint, Pittsburgh, and Sioux Falls have been added  from Nashville in the recent past, with multiple others coming later in 2021. These include Albany (May 14th), Boise (May 28th), Greensboro (June 3rd), Key West (June 2nd), McAllen (May 27th), Portsmouth (May 27th), and Rapid City (August 4th; temporary only).

But Allegiant has cut 27 routes

While Allegiant has added 125 domestic routes since 2019, it has cut 27, for a net increase of 98. Ogdensburg, New York, to Orlando Sanford was the low-cost carrier’s thickest route lost. It had operated since 2016.

Allegiant pulled out of Ogdensburg, located close to the Canadian border for Ottawa and to a lesser degree Montreal, in late 2020 partly because of border closure between the US and its northerly brother. Tampa St Pete was also cut. However, Ogdensburg still appears in the airline’s booking engine, suggesting it may return when the situation improves.

Joining Ogdensburg are four other domestic airports cut from Allegiant’s network since 2019: Anchorage; Milwaukee; Montrose; and St. George. Of those still in its network, Savannah has seen four routes cut: Albany; Niagara Falls; Portsmouth; and Providence. It now has 16 routes from the Georgia airport, up by one over 2019 following the addition of Appleton, Chicago Midway, Hobby, New York Stewart, and St Louis Belleville.

Eight airports added

Allegiant’s network comprises 128 domestic airports in 2021, up from 125 in 2019. Eight have been added – Boston, Hobby, Jackson Hole, Key West, Midway, Orange County, Portland, Spokane – while five, as mentioned above, have been removed.

A handful of Allegiant’s added airports highlight the growing significance of larger cities for the carrier, along with the continued rise of non-traditional destinations as it grows and diversifies its network.

In fact, most well-established and obvious airports for Allegiant have seen seats reduced this year versus 2019, as it continues to develop new or newer ones, including Destin, Key West, Sarasota, and West Palm Beach. Introduced in 2014, Allegiant’s seats at West Palm Beach are up by over 424% since 2019, although it is still only its 59th-largest airport.