First commercial flight arrives; Allegiant announces two more routes
First commercial flight arrives; Allegiant announces two more routes
By Fran Thompson
The first ever commercial airline passengers arrived at Gulf Shores International Airport aboard an Airbus A320 on May 21 in the same fashion that the boarded the flight from McGhee Tyson Airport in Knoxville – to much Fanfare. The first flight from Gulf Shores back to Tennessee took flight around four hours later.
The throng that gathered near the brand new airport terminal included community and Chamber of Commerce officials, the mayors of Gulf Shores, Foley and Orange Beach and hundreds of curious citizens looking forward to two rather than 10 hour trips to visit family and friends in eight locales, including six destinations announced last year – Houston, Knoxville, Cincinnati, St. Louis (Bellville), Kansas City and Northwest Arkansas (Fayetteville). The capacity for each flight is 180.
Allegiant announced additional routes to Des Moines and Appleton, Wisconsin beginning in October. Like most Allegiant flights, fares for those two flights are priced at around $59 one-way plus carry-on/checked bag and seat selection fees.
“After years of working toward this goal, seeing the first commercial flight touch down is incredibly exciting,” said Mayor Robert Craft at the ribbon cutting. “Residents will have more convenient travel options, and visitors will find it easier than ever to reach Alabama’s beaches to experience our local businesses, restaurants, and everything that makes this place special.
“Adding additional destinations this soon is absolutely amazing. The fact that these are in the heart of our winter markets adds greatly to our goals of becoming more of a year-round destination,” added Craft. “We look forward to continuing our partnership with Allegiant as they grow within our market.”
In addition to vacationers, the first flight in included Gulf Shores City Councilman Steve Jones, Orange Beach City Councilman Jerry Johnson and Orange Beach-Gulf Shores Tourism CEO/President Beth Gendler.
“Our existing visitors have a new option for getting away to the beach for a long weekend or for a full week,’’ Gendler said, “and these flights should encourage new visitors to give our destination a try because of the great prices and cutting hours off the time it takes to get here if driving.”
“Everybody is so excited about these routes. The folks that are going to come in and are going to spend the winter down here, are going to spend Christmas on the beach,” said Allegiant vice president Kristen Schilling-Gonzales. “I’m sure that it’s just going to be the start of more things to come.
“It is really the infrastructure that the community has really put forth that enabled all of these new routes to happen.”
The two gate, $8 million terminal the city built to accomodate Allegiant was mostly funded with a $5 million federal grant. Gulf Shores City Council approved a $3 million loan to the Airport Authority to complete construction. The new terminal was built with low operating and maintenance costs in mind and engineered for the expected future expansion. There is FAA funding available to expand the terminal once more routes and airlines are added.
Gulf Shores’ journey into establishing commercial service at its airport started with a $5 million federal grant to build a landing pad to accommodate commercial aircraft and a $6.1 million federal grant to build its air traffic control tower back in 2021.
With numerous private and charter flights flying to and from Gulf Shores, the airport is already the second busiest in Alabama behind Birmingham-Shuttlesworth. And it is projected that Gulf Shores will also supplant Montgomery and Dothan for total passengers served by the end of the year.
Airport Director Jesse Fosnaugh, hired in December from the Branson Airport in Missouri, thanked the Airport Authority and his staff for getting the terminal ready in time for the first flight.
“This is the start of a new chapter and I’m ready to lead our team,” he said.
The Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport is the closest comparable airport to Gulf Shores and it has seen double digit growth for the past three years.