Hundreds of group and enterprise leaders joined employees from Allegiant Air and the Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport on Monday morning to have fun the completion of a new concourse devoted to serving Allegiant Air passengers.
“No different airline has invested into our group like Allegiant has. In truth, no airline within the 65-year historical past of VPS has made the extent of dedication that Allegiant Air has,” Okaloosa County Airports Director Tracy Stage stated, utilizing the airport’s three-letter code.
Indeed, Allegiant contributed $11.4 million to the mission, which represents the majority of concourse development prices. The five-gate, 26,000-square-foot Concourse C is situated on the west facet of the airport’s important terminal and can serve Allegiant Air passengers completely.
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It’s a giant dedication for an airline that could be a relative newcomer to Okaloosa County.
Allegiant began service on the Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport in 2016, with service to St. Louis and Cincinnati. By 2018, the provider was offering service to 22 locations and introduced VPS as its latest base of operations. Currently, Allegiant Air has service from Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport to 35 locations, principally to smaller airports within the east and mid-west. The airline’s major focus is on vacationers, so the variety of flights differ in accordance to the season.
“You’ve bought one thing right here that’s extremely particular, and when individuals come to Destin they really feel it,” stated Keith Hansen, Allegiant’s senior vice chairman of airport and authorities affairs. Destin has change into one of many premier locations within the nation, Hansen instructed the gang.
“Your secret is out; everyone is aware of now what Destin is, what Fort Walton Beach is,” Hansen stated. “They are coming right here in droves and we could not be happier to be the vessel that’s bringing them from locations everywhere in the nation.”
As proof of this, throughout Monday’s ribbon reducing, an Allegiant Air Airbus A320 arrived from Cincinnati, dropping about 180 passengers into the new facility.
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Six retail places in concourse will provide meals, drinks and extra
In addition to new concourse constructing, Stage stated the airport’s present concession distributors, Oakwell and Faber, have invested $5.1 million in six separate retail places within the concourse providing meals, beverage and different retail gadgets. Stage stated they labored with the airport to provide you with designs that mirrored the character of Okaloosa County. Destiny Food and Drink has a bar formed just like the hull of a ship, and Doolittle Annex, is a small airstream trailer-style restaurant serving meals on the far finish of the concourse.
“You can actually sit down in entrance of floor-to-ceiling home windows and watch your complete airfield facility,” stated Stage.
Concourse C additionally has its personal TSA safety checkpoint. Departing passengers will nonetheless test in for his or her flights on the airport’s important terminal and arriving passengers will nonetheless use the bags declare space in the principle terminal.
Stage stated he is significantly proud that the airport has been in a position to improve its capability with out taking up any debt.
“We broke two million (passengers) final 12 months, and we’ll break two million once more this 12 months,” stated Stage. “In the previous 5 years to date, greater than 9.3 million passengers have traveled by means of VPS. Two level six million, or 27%, of the overall passenger depend is from Allegiant Air.”
Stage stated that interprets to billions of {dollars} of impression for Okaloosa County.
“It’s a giant win to have Allegiant right here at house at VPS,” Okaloosa County Commissioner Mel Ponder stated. “We’re grateful to have them right here; it is nice partnership for our group.”
https://www.nwfdailynews.com/story/information/native/2022/09/20/destin-fort-walton-beach-florida-airport-new-concourse-serve-allegiant-air/10425205002/
