Airport near Charlotte expands destinations with new route to another Florida city
Less than a year and a half after announcing plans to establish a new aircraft base at the Concord-Padgett Airport, Allegiant Air said it will launch a new route from the Charlotte-area airport.
The discount carrier will begin offering nonstop flights to Melbourne Orlando International Airport beginning Nov. 18, with one-way tickets as low as $39.
The Melbourne, Florida, airport is outside of Orlando on the coast, and about a 75-minute drive to Disney World.
The new destination for the Concord airport comes 15 months after the airline announced it would establish a base at the airport, a $50 million investment for Allegiant.
The airline would house two Airbus aircrafts at the Charlotte-area airport.
That plan was put on hold amid the financial blows dealt to the travel industry during the COVID-19 pandemic. Allegiant announced it would cut its flight capacity by 80% to 90% for April and May in 2020, including at the Concord Airport.
And plans for the aircraft base in Concord, originally scheduled to open in 2020, would be delayed — likely until 2021, the airline said in April 2020.
The airline has not announced an update on plans for the Concord airport since that time.
Plans for Concord, Asheville
Allegiant had said the new base would create at least 66 jobs. The deal involved incentives from both Concord City Council and Cabarrus County Commissioners, involving up to $123,650 in taxpayer funds, paid out once the airline completes the investment.
The airline has flown out of Concord since 2013, with routes to New Orleans and seven other cities in Florida, including Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, according to the airline’s website.
Allegiant flew 353,000 passengers through Concord-Padgett Regional Airport in 2019.
For other North Carolina travelers, the airline is also adding a new destination out of the Asheville Regional Airport beginning Oct. 7. The airline will launch a nonstop route to the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, with one-way fares as low as $49.
This story was originally published June 29, 2021 at 12:39 PM.
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