From Oct. 1 through Oct. 3, North Central West Virginia Airport Director Rick Rock will be heading back to a place he has frequented over the past several years. He will be making a trip to the Allegiant Airport Conference.
The annual event is where Allegiant meets with the airports it serves and, essentially, gives the airport a report card. It is also the event, being held this year in Las Vegas, where Rock makes his annual pitch for expanded service on existing flights and a pitch to add new destination flights.
Recently, despite load factors on flights continuing to exceed 90 percent, the best that has happened has been the airport not losing flights. The reason? A national, and even global, shortage of pilots has put a lot of airlines in either holding patterns with growth or the elimination of routes.
However, Rock recently revealed that last year’s conference is going to produce some fruit for local customers. And that fruit will be available this summer.
“This summer, which is a result of working with Allegiant at last year’s conference, we have an extra frequency to Orlando,” said Rock. “That is a nice addition for our travelers, whether it’s for business or going on a vacation.”
Already, Allegiant has flights to and from Bridgeport to Orlando Sanford International Airport on Thursdays and Sundays. The new third flight will be on Tuesdays to give local travelers an additional option.
NCWV Airport Deputy Director Shawn Long said the third flight will be added to the rotation June 25. On August 13, the flights will go back to Thursday and Sunday only.
Will this year’s conference add additional flights or new service? Rock said that is always an unknown. But he does know what will happen in October with his team.
““First thing this year is to keep our relationship strong and to go over our report card,” said Rock. “We’ll talk about making them more profitable, talk about continuing to serve our community, and how we can find underserved markets we can get to. That includes new flights and looking, like we always do, at the ones we have.”
What that means is a similar strategy as the past that has worked particularly well prior to the pilot shortage and has produced results even as the lack of pilots issue has evolved.
“We’re going to pitch, again, the extension of the Myrtle Beach flight into the fall months and get outside of the summer schedule. We feel strongly about good numbers about Destin if we can get it to go further into the year,” said Rock. “We’ll also be pitching the ones we hear about that we are confident we can fill planes and that’s Nashville, Fort Myers, Punta Gorda, and even continue looking out west. We may not get those flights, but if you don’t state your case, you almost certainly won’t get them.”
Rock said he thinks Allegiant, even battling pilot issues like most airlines, will be even more receptive this time around. The reason for that, he said, is the new terminal.
“We’re going to have more gates and we want, and we’ll let Allegiant know we’re going to do all we can do, to fill up that terminal,” said Rock. “If we can get past the intrusive issue of the pilot shortage, I feel confident you will see big things with Allegiant here.”
Editor's Note: Top photo is of an Allegiant plane with plenty of passengers here in Bridgeport, while NCWV Airport Director Rick Rock is shown at the April 15 meeting of the Airport Authority.
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