Allegiant to Leave Casper-How This Might Affect Northern Colorado Later
Allegiant Airlines announced this week that they will be ending non-stop service to Las Vegas from Casper-Natrona County International Airport effective January 1, 2018. The reason for the move, according to KCWY-Casper, is Allegiant's desire to move to bigger airports. Well, at least they gave a reason.
In an earlier post, I referenced the confusion after Allegiant left Northern Colorado and that, at the time, the airline did not give a definitive reason for their departure. It was later that the issue of small aircraft traffic and the lack of a tower at the Northern Colorado Regional Airport was their biggest reason. Also in that post, it was announced that a contractor had been hired to build the world's first "virtual tower" at our airport, with completion estimated in two years.
Of course, speculation followed as to what that could mean to the Northern Colorado travelers and their disdain for the drive to DIA. Now that the tower issue is going to be resolved, could Allegiant return and bring back our non-stop flights to Viva? Based on this story from KCWY, that seems unlikely if indeed they are looking for bigger airports. The Casper-Natrona County International Airport is larger than what we have here. In fact, there are two other airlines that will continue service out of that airport.
Where does that leave us? That virtual tower needs to be built. Also, conditions at the terminal could use an upgrade. There might be a more strategic advantage to providing service in this region as opposed to Casper, but I'm not experienced in this field to offer any insight on that. I guess, like most people, I'm just hoping we can be parking and flying out of the Northern Colorado Regional Airport sooner rather than later.
Also:
http://tri1025.com/docs-blog-my-sweet-direct-flights-to-viva-could-they-be-coming-back-to-meyou/
http://tri1025.com/allegiants-last-flight-departs-loveland-fort-collins-airport/