Allegiant to base new aircraft in Orlando

Allegiant Air, which is based at McCarran Airport, Las Vegas has announced plans to establish upto 10 new routes from its base in Orlando (MCO) from Febraury next year. The routes will commence with the following services

01FEB10 Knoxville, Lexington
08FEB10 Allentown, Greenville
12FEB10 Grand Rapids
15FEB10 Springfield MO, Tri-Cities
16FEB10 Huntington WV
04MAR10 Youngstown
05MAR10 Des Moines

Allegiant will base five MD-83 aircraft in Orlando and will link the popular tourist destinations with smaller regional destinations that currently have no service into Orlando. The five based units will make Allegiant one of the largest regional operators in Orlando. Currently the largest carriers in terms of weekly departures from Orlando are

• Southwest Airlines 1555
• AirTran Airways 921
• Jetblue Airways- 771
• Delta Airlines- 569
• Continental Airlines 436