Allegiant Air will be taking a hiatus from Owensboro from Nov. 29 through Jan. 13 as the airline performs routine maintenance on some of its planes. Airport Director Tristan Durbin said he understands the frustration of some frequent travelers, but noted it’s not an uncommon practice.
Durbin said Allegiant notified the Owensboro-Daviess County Regional Airport (OWB) this week that they will be taking the “brief seasonal hiatus.”
Durbin said it’s not uncommon for Allegiant to go on a hiatus, as they’ve done so for the last four years. But typically that occurs from early August to early October. Allegiant flew through that time period this year and is instead taking a hiatus at the end of the year.
“The reason they did that is they have a lot of their aircraft undergoing heavy maintenance at this time,” Durbin said. “They also don’t have as many aircraft as they planned on having at this time, which is causing some of this.”
OWB isn’t the only airport affected, as Durbin said there are 25 Allegiant stations — out of 107 nationwide — going on some sort of hiatus.
“We’re disappointed for the community and our frequent travelers during this holiday time that Allegiant will not be here this year,” Durbin said. “We do look forward to serving the flying public with Allegiant as soon as they come back in January.”
Desla Laster is one such traveler, and she’s disappointed with the timing of the hiatus due to the meaningful trip she takes each year around Christmas. Laster has a condo in Florida and a condo in Owensboro.
“Owensboro is my hometown, and I will probably never move to Florida, but that is where my husband was buried,” she said. “I’ve been a widow for six years now, and this is where I like to go and do my retreat to pay my respects. That was our happy place.”
She added, “I’m just sort of trying to … get (Allegiant) to understand that there are a lot of people counting on them. There are a lot of snowbirds here in Owensboro. There are a lot of people that give their kids and their families trips to Disney World, Universal Studios — that’s been tradition for years.”
Laster said she’s always had a great experience with Allegiant, but the timing of the hiatus just doesn’t sit well with her.
“I have never once had a complaint about Allegiant,” she said. “I have praised them, I’ve written letters to them. I believe in giving credit where credit is due, but this just doesn’t make sense to me. I felt that someone needs to be there for the people that have planned these family vacations or things that they do every year.”
Durbin said he wants travelers to know that this decision was not up to OWB officials and was out of their hands. He said while the timing was unfortunate, it was something that Allegiant had to do.
“Certain maintenance checks have to happen at certain intervals,” he said.
Allegiant will resume their normal flight schedule upon returning, offering round-trip flights each Monday and Friday from OWB to Orlando Sanford International Airport (SFB).
Anyone who previously purchased a ticket for an Allegiant flight during the hiatus period will receive a full refund, or they can re-book a flight for a different date or destination.
The daily, round-trip Cape Air flights — three to Nashville and one to St. Louis — will be unaffected.
Durbin said all OWB employees who deal with Allegiant flights will retain their positions during the hiatus. They were informed of the situation Thursday afternoon.
Durbin said the hiatus doesn’t have anything to do with the airport’s relationship with Allegiant, which he said is still very strong. In fact, he attended an Allegiant Airport Conference last month, and OWB was rated as “no concern” with Allegiant. OWB also ranked as the eighth-cheapest airport out of 107 on cost per enplanement for Allegiant.
“They were very happy with us as a whole,” Durbin said. “It was a great conference, very informational. All things considered, I think it was very, very good for our relationship with them.”
