It’s more than a month before the second year of summer flights between Bridgeport and Myrtle Beach begin, but it appears that things are already going well – at least on the ticket sales side of things. With five weeks to go before the first Allegiant Airlines flight takes off from the North Central West Virginia Airport, more than 10 percent of the available seats have already been sold.

 

“That’s good news,” said Ron Watson, president of the Benedum Airport Authority that is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the airport. “We’re a bit ahead of last year’s pace and that’s the case with Allegiant extending service.”

 

According to Shawn Long, the airport’s administrative manager, roughly 2,500 tickets have already been sold for the flights that begin June 3 and this year will run through Sept. 26. Last year, the flights ended in mid-August. Long said there are roughly 22,000 seats available for the flights running on Mondays and Fridays.

 

Last year, NCWV Airport Director Rick Rock said the Myrtle Beach flights were at 90 percent capacity or higher every week. Watson said that will need to continue to not only have the service renewed next year, but to possibly have it expanded again.

 

“The thing everyone needs to remember and not forget is that Allegiant is a business. As long as they can justify at the end of the day that they can produce a healthy profit statement then they’ll continue to do business with us. They have to be damn sure things are strong on the profit side of the profit and loss columns,” said Watson. “As an airport, it’s our job to market it. But having them here and having us market the flight are two components. The third component is the biggest once you get the flight.”

 

That component, said Watson, is continued public use of the flight. He said that the numbers with the Myrtle Beach flight, and also with the Orlando Allegiant flight, proved the local airport official’s case that they had a viable market when initially trying to land service. However, he said that support has to continue or the flights will end.

 

“If the service isn’t used, Allegiant wouldn’t hesitate terminating the flight. They’re not about taking a risky proposition and having big numbers eliminates the risk and where the public buy in is so important,” said Watson. “What I find encouraging about the early numbers is that last year we saw those numbers rise, and significantly rise, as the start date got closer. We’ll do everything we can to fill up those planes.”