Allegiant Air will begin nonstop service to three Florida cities in November
EWING -- With Allegiant Air long having its sights set on Trenton-Mercer Airport, it was only a matter of time before the low-cost carrier would decide to launch service.
"We've been going back and forth and just looking for the right time," said Eric Fletcher, manager of airport operations for Allegiant Air. "There's a lot of passengers looking for affordable airfare and there's a lot of demand in the area."
Fletcher was in town for a brief visit Thursday following the airline's announcement that it would begin service from Ewing to three Florida cities in November.
Allegiant, based in Las Vegas, plans to operate year-round flights to Orlando Sanford International Airport, one of its main hubs, three times a week, along with twice-weekly flights to Punta Gorda and the St. Petersburg-Clearwater airport, just across the bay from Tampa. It plans to use a 177-seat Airbus A320.
"There's a lot of passenger demand going down to Florida and even with (Frontier Airlines) flying here to Florida, we think the market can take a lot more," Fletcher said.
He said Allegiant will focus its efforts on making the three initial routes successful, but expressed confidence that more destinations will follow.
Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes said the addition of Allegiant now gives passengers a choice of which airline to fly, especially since Florida has proven to be a popular market for Frontier.
"It brings competition; it brings excitement," he said. "I think Allegiant will bring the ability to capture this Central Jersey market and take advantage of all the people that are here in the market who don't want to go to Philadelphia and don't want to go to Newark, pay those high prices and the inconvenience of flying out of them."
Though Fletcher met Hughes for the first time on Thursday, he has been in talks with Melinda Montgomery, the airport manager, and Aaron Watson, the county's deputy administrator, for more than two years.
"Frontier is doing very well here and I think Allegiant saw that and knew that it's time for them to come in," Watson said. "We couldn't be happier."
To accommodate the growth, the airport is anticipating having to make some changes to the apron -- the area that's used for passenger loading and unloading -- as well as inside the terminal to make room for Allegiant's ticket counter and office space. One possibility is to move the sheriff's department, which provides security at the airport, to another building, Watson said.
"We need to be up in operation in three months, so there's going to be a lot of activity in the next month or so," he said.
The county has also been busy working to update the airport's master plan, which is a 5-, 10- and 20-year plan for guiding improvements and capital investments at the facility.
"Ever since Frontier arrived and even before that, we knew that this airport has unlimited potential," Watson said. "We were always looking to prepare it for the future."
Cristina Rojas may be reached at crojas@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @CristinaRojasTT. Find NJ.com on Facebook.