Allegiant to begin Syracuse to Myrtle Beach flights on Thursday

SYRACUSE — The Syracuse Regional Airport Authority today announced Allegiant Air will make its inaugural flight from Syracuse Hancock International Airport to Myrtle Beach, S.C. on Thursday evening.

Allegiant will be providing non-stop service from Syracuse to Myrtle Beach on a seasonal basis, from May until August, the authority said in a news release.

The air carrier first announced the service on March 4.

The flight takes off at 6:41pm on Thursday evening. To acknowledge the inaugural flight, the Authority will host a 5 p.m. event in the Center Lobby on the first floor.

Allegiant Air is a unit of Allegiant Travel Company (NASDAQ: ALGT), which describes itself as a company “focused on low-cost, nonstop leisure travel.”

Myrtle Beach is the second destination Allegiant offers from Syracuse, having also brought service to the Tampa Bay–St. Petersburg, Fla. area last November, Andrew Levy, president and COO of Allegiant Travel Company, said in the news release.

“We are pleased to expand our service in Syracuse to include low-cost, convenient travel to Myrtle Beach,” said Levy. “The community has already embraced our service to [Tampa Bay–St. Petersburg] and we are confident that they will appreciate our low-cost flights to Myrtle Beach.”

The city of Syracuse last August announced that Allegiant would begin twice-weekly service between Syracuse and the St. Petersburg–Clearwater International Airport in Clearwater, Fla., the office of Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner said in a March 4 news release announcing the new Syracuse to Myrtle Beach route.

Allegiant Air will receive government grant money to help offer the flights between Syracuse and Myrtle Beach, just as it did to provide the flight service to Clearwater.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com