America’s ‘ultra low-cost’ carriers are adding to their networks, with new routes and cities announced last week for Allegiant and Spirit.
Spirit is adding two new cities to its route map, Columbus, OH and Richmond, VA. Service from Columbus will start in February. Routes include year-round service to Las Vegas and four Florida cities. There will also be seasonal service to Myrtle Beach, SC and New Orleans. Spirit will be the only ULCC at Columbus’s main airport, but Allegiant also flies to the Florida destinations from Columbus’s more distant secondary airport.
Richmond will get Spirit flights once-a-day round-trip to Fort Lauderdale and Orlando in Florida, starting in March. Spirit isn’t looking for a lot of visitors to Richmond; the service is aimed at attracting locals on their way to warmer weather, either non-stop or connecting at the Florida hubs.
Allegiant’s latest expansion takes a different tack: no more cities added, but more flights on existing routes, and 19 more flights connecting its existing destinations. Cities getting the most new routes are Phoenix-Mesa, AZ, Los Angeles, Orlando/Sanford, Cincinnati, and Punta Gorda, FL.
