Allegiant Air, the Las Vegas-based carrier known for connecting secondary cities to leisure destinations, continues to ramp up service to Hawaii.
The airline, which entered the Hawaii market in June after two years of planning, said Tuesday it will begin once-a-week nonstop service to Honolulu beginning in February from Boise, Idaho, and Spokane, Wash. Neither market currently has direct flights to the islands.
Earlier this year, Allegiant began service to Honolulu from Las Vegas and Fresno, Calif. In November, Allegiant’s schedule heats up with two flights a week from Bellingham, Wash., to both Honolulu and Maui; a second weekly flight that will be added from Fresno; and weekly flights from Eugene, Ore., and the California cities of Monterey, Santa Maria and Stockton. The Las Vegas service is starting out at three days a week.
"We are thrilled to be growing our presence in Hawaii so quickly," said Andrew Levy, president of parent Allegiant Travel Co., which also books hotels, rental cars and tours. "We anticipate the new service will be very popular."
Allegiant, which last week announced a $25.2 million profit in the second quarter — its 38th profitable quarter in a row — said it is bullish on the Hawaii market.
"It has greatly exceeded our forecasts," Levy said Aug. 1 on a conference call with analysts. "We started flights to Honolulu from both Las Vegas and Fresno in the last days of June, so July is our only full month of operations. Despite a smaller-than-ideal sales window of only nine weeks, Las Vegas posted a 97.4 percent load factor (percentage of seats filled), and Fresno had a load factor of 96.8 percent during the month of July."
Levy added that Allegiant’s revenue per passenger was "far in excess of expectation for both routes" and enabled the airline to post "very high" profit margins in both markets during the month.
The Boise and Spokane routes will generate an estimated $13.4 million in visitor spending and $1.4 million in tax revenue annually for the state, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
"Allegiant’s entry into the Hawaii market has opened up new gateway cities for the state," said Mike McCartney, president and CEO of HTA.
Allegiant is using 223-seat Boeing 757-200s on the Hawaii routes. The airline has four of those aircraft in its fleet and will add two more early next year.
The Spokane service will begin Feb. 8, and the first Boise flight will be Feb. 9.
Allegiant will begin the service with an introductory one-way fare of $180, available for a limited time, with restrictions.
The company’s stock closed down 11 cents at $68.96 Tuesday on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The new Hawaii service was announced during the regular trading session.
