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Allegiant Air is canceling one of its new routes before it even starts.
The Las Vegas-based carrier has scrapped its planned once-a-week service between Monterey, Calif., and Honolulu that was scheduled to begin Nov. 16.
It would have been the first service from Monterey to Honolulu and could have brought to Hawaii as many as 223 passengers a week on Allegiant’s Boeing 757 aircraft.
“Unfortunately, the Monterey to Honolulu route did not generate the demand we had expected,” Allegiant spokeswoman Jessica Wheeler told the Star-Advertiser on Sunday. “We have an obligation to use our resources where there is demand.”
Wheeler declined to disclose specific booking information on the Monterey route.
However, Monterey Regional Airport deputy manager Charlie Hayes said in the Santa Cruz Sentinel newspaper on Friday that bookings for the inaugural flight were almost full but that bookings for service later in the year were in the 20 to 30 percent range.
Wheeler told the Sentinel that generally Allegiant’s business model is based on 90 percent capacity.
Allegiant, which entered the Hawaii market in late June with service from Las Vegas and Fresno, Calif., still plans to add routes to the islands from seven more mainland cities.
In November, Allegiant’s schedule expands to two flights a week from Bellingham, Wash., to both Honolulu and Maui; a second weekly flight that will be added from Fresno; and weekly flights from Eugene, Ore., and the California cities of Santa Maria and Stockton. The Las Vegas service is three days a week.
Then in February, Allegiant starts once-a-week service from Boise, Idaho; Spokane, Wash.; and three-days-a-week service from Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport.
Wheeler said customers with reservations will be offered full refunds or can make arrangements to fly to Honolulu on Allegiant from Fresno or Stockton.
She said Allegiant has no immediate plans to announce any additional Honolulu routes from other cities.
