Budget airline Allegiant adds routes from Pittsburgh to Tennessee, Virginia

Budget airline Allegiant plans to add three nonstop destinations out of Pittsburgh International, the airport announced.

The Las Vegas-based carrier will add seasonal routes from Pittsburgh to Nashville, Memphis and the Norfolk area beginning in May, according to Bob Kerlik, vice president of media relations for the Allegheny County Airport Authority.

The flights will begin in May and bring the total number of Allegiant destinations from Pittsburgh to 15.

Kerlik said the seating capacity of Allegiant flights has more than doubled since it came to Pittsburgh International in 2015: up nearly 125% to 190,000 in 2019 compared with 85,000 in its inaugural year.

The service will offer the only nonstop flights to Memphis and the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area from Pittsburgh, Kerlik said. Delta cut nonstop service to Memphis in 2014, and American Airlines ditched Norfolk in 2008. Southwest offers the only nonstop flight from Pittsburgh to Nashville.

Economics and finance professor Bijan Vasigh, of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, told PIT newsletter BlueSky that Allegiant’s business model is what makes it successful.

“They focus on leisure travelers who don’t need to have daily flights — people who are flexible,” he said. “They’ve been very successful in identifying these people.”

The Memphis and Virginia flights will run Thursdays and Sundays from May 21 to Aug. 16. The Nashville flight will run Mondays and Fridays from May 22 to Nov. 16, Kerlik said.

Allegiant is the airport’s sixth-busiest airline, Kerlik said, accounting for about 4% of passengers.