Frontier Airlines, Allegiant Air to launch flights from Long Beach Airport in California during summer travel season

Frontier Airlines and Allegiant Air have announced that they will launch flights from Long Beach Airport (LGB) in Long Beach, California, the United States, during the summer travel season.

Allegiant Air, the budget airline headquartered in Nevada, the United States, said it expects to launch service from Long Beach Airport in the summer of 2010.

Frontier Airlines, the low-cost carrier based in Indianapolis, Indiana, the United States, will operate 2 daily, non-stop flights to Denver International Airport, Colorado, in May 2010.

At present, Delta Air Lines, US Airways, JetBlue Airways and Alaska/Horizon Airlines operate non-stop flights from Long Beach Airport to 14 destinations in the United States, with connections across the world.

In a statement, Allegiant Air stressed that it is committed to providing low-cost, non-stop flights to small cities or secondary airports – like Long Beach Airport – which are close to big metropolitan areas. Allegiant Air explained that it is keen on keeping operating costs to the minimum as well as subsidising flight fees with ancillary revenues earned from the airline’s affiliate, Allegiant Vacations, which provides hotel and rental-car booking facilities.

Tyri Squyres, vice-president (marketing and sales) of Allegiant Travel Company, said in the statement that Allegiant Air expects to start flights from Long Beach Airport, California, in the middle of August 2010 and that an announcement to this effect is likely to be made early in May 2010.

Frontier Airlines, which will launch 2 daily, non-stop flights between Long Beach Airport and Denver International Airport in May 2010, is the second biggest airline at Denver International Airport. Over 95% of the flights of Frontier Airlines – to 60 destinations – originate or arrive at its hub at Denver International Airport, the airline said in a press release.

Daniel Shurz, vice-president (planning and strategy) of Frontier Airlines, said in the press release that, with the delivery of 3 new Airbus A320 aircraft and additional Embraer E190s jets in the spring of 2010, the airline will be able to expand its service, out of Denver, to new destinations as well as underserved destinations. At present, Frontier Airlines has an all-Airbus fleet of planes.

Meanwhile, both Delta Air Lines and JetBlue Airways have sought additional slots at Long Beach Airport. Each of these carriers was recently given one extra flight slot, which helped them raise their flight capacity.

The allocation of flight slots to Frontier Airlines and Allegiant Air will bring Long Beach Airport – which mainly serves Los Angeles County and Orange County – to its daily allowable limit of 41 flights.

According to airport authorities, a total of 2,909,307 passengers travelled through the 87-year-old Long Beach Airport in 2009 – just a 0.2% drop from 2008. This slight fall in the number of passengers is in contrast to Long Beach Airport’s neighboring airports such as Los Angles International Airport, Ontario International and John Wayne Airport – all of which posted a decline of over 5% in the total number of passengers for the second year in a row.