vagabond

Article says it will be hiring people, including pilots and flight attendants. Bellingham is a great town. It's close to the Canadian border and there's some nice outlet malls around. The only thing I don't like about it is the weather - too darn cold and snowy and windy.

From Bellingham Herald:

Allegiant Air announced this week that it is making Bellingham a home base for two of its airplanes, which will mean an increase in employees at the airport.

Bellingham International Airport will now be home to two 150-seat Boeing MD80 jets, and the company will increase its work force to 80 employees in Whatcom County. This will include hiring more ground handlers, customer-service agents, flight attendants, pilots and aircraft technicians.

Allegiant currently has fewer than 20 employees in Bellingham.

Carolyn Casey, corporate communications manager for the Port of Bellingham, which runs the airport, said Allegiant will be adding a modular building to house the additional work force.

"This is great news for the community because not only does this decision make Allegiant more of an anchor to the community, it means a boost in employment," Casey said.

Casey also noted there has been a significant increase in passenger traffic out of the airport. In 2007, 226,785 passengers flew out of the airport, up from 63,781 in 2003.

Airline spokeswoman Tyri Squyres said the airline is not ready to announce future destinations, but she acknowledged that the base installation creates the possibility of additional flights out of Bellingham, and those flights could be to new destinations.

She noted that Allegiant started with four Las Vegas flights a week here in 2004 and is now up to 17 a week, with service to Palm Springs, Calif., Reno, Nev., and Mesa, Ariz., as well as Las Vegas.

"Obviously we've consistently grown operations [in Bellingham] year after year," Squyres said. "We have positioned ourselves to be able to grow our commitment. We are not announcing anything yet, but it's definitely an option."

Port Aviation Director Art Choat noted that Allegiant's Web site already offers tickets for additional flights out of Bellingham to all four cities that the airline now serves from here, beginning March 2. If Allegiant maintains that level of service to Bellingham for the long term, the port would get an additional $15,000 to $18,000 a week in gross revenues.

Squyres replied that the level of service will fluctuate with demand, and there is no guarantee about what the level of service will be later in the year when seasonal service to Palm Springs is scaled back.

But she also noted that Allegiant has a special relationship with Bellingham. No other airport in the Allegiant network of more than 50 cities gets service to Palm Springs and Reno, for example.

"Bellingham is not like other markets to us," she said. "Bellingham has been unique to us from the beginning."

stinsonjr

I know that Velocipede and his kind lump Allegiant into the JB/SkyBus/VA category. My opinion is that they have a different business model (small, non-hub airports) and based upon their latest financial results they have the discipline to stick with their plan as well as grow AND deal with high oil prices.

Is my opinion on this issue correct?

Fins Up

Velociwho? I don't think he's allowed to play here anymore. His opinions ususally included childish namecalling so he's a goner.

ghilis101

that may be, but his opinions were also the kind of opinions we needed more of on this board. his banishment from the board is symbolic of whats gonna happen to all pilots who push for the good ol' days again... all goners

Pilotpip

There are plenty here that echo his sentiments. Most of us can do it without resorting to petty name calling like he loved to do.

de727ups

"but his opinions were also the kind of opinions we needed more of on this board"

It's not about opinions, it's about how you express them. There are limits to how opinions can be expressed at APC. I'm happy for that.