Here’s why you can’t book Allegiant flights from Dayton to Punta Gorda past this month

Allegiant flights from the Dayton International Airport aren’t likely to continue operating year-round, according to the airline.

A flight from Dayton to Punta Gorda will go on seasonal hiatus later this month, said Allegiant spokeswoman Sonya Padgett. The last flight leaves Dayton April 21, according to the airline’s booking website.

Two other routes to St. Petersburg and Sanford will go on seasonal hiatus later this year, she said. Online bookings aren’t available past Sept. 3 for St. Petersburg/Tampa and past Aug. 13 for Daytona Beach/Sanford.

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Officials at the Dayton airport haven’t been officially told that the airline will no longer operate those two flights year round, said airport director Terry Slaybaugh. He said the airport has been waiting on a final decision later this month.

“That’s what’s so frustrating. We spent two years building this service up and now they’re doing this. It doesn’t make sense other than if they don’t have enough airplanes,” Slaybaugh said.

Much of Allegiant’s service is seasonal, Padgett said. Allegiant is the only low-cost carrier remaining at the Dayton airport.

“That allows us to be highly responsive to customer demand. We’ll reevaluate the Dayton routes later this year,” she said.

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Other Ohio airports also have limited booking dates, but most booking seasons stretch at least four months longer than Dayton’s. Travelers can’t book flights to Punta Gorda from Cleveland beyond Aug. 18, from Cincinnati and Columbus beyond November and from Toledo after Aug. 10.

“Allegiant strives to make air travel accessible to everyone, but we specifically focus on the price-sensitive leisure traveler…We are constantly evaluating and measuring demand throughout our system so that we can provide the highest level of service to our customers when they need it,” Padgett said.

Slaybaugh said he’s glad to hear it called a “seasonal hiatus” because that implies the airline will come back even if it decides not to extend service to use resources for a different location in the meantime.

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