Allegiant Air to cut flights to Hawaii

Allegiant Air plans to temporarily stop service to Hawaii from seven of the nine cities it serves from the mainland.

The Las Vegas-based carrier, which connects primarily secondary cities to leisure markets, said it will cease flights beginning Aug. 14 from Boise, Idaho; Eugene, Ore.; Phoenix; Spokane, Wash.; and the Californian cities of Fresno, Stockton and Santa Maria.

“It’s a seasonal hiatus,” Allegiant spokeswoman Jessica Wheeler said today. “It’s not an uncommon occurrence in our business model. One of the things that makes us unique and has contributed to our success over the years is to match our products to what our demand is. Our customer is a leisure traveler, and leisure travel has fluctuations throughout the year, particularly in September and October when kids go back to school and there’s not a lot of vacation travel.”

Allegiant flies twice a week to Hawaii from Phoenix and once a week from the other destinations.

The airline’s three-days-a-week service to Honolulu from Las Vegas, and twice-a-week service to both Maui and Honolulu from Bellingham, Wash., will not be affected.

Wheeler said there is no firm return date for any of the affected routes but she anticipates that Allegiant will bring back all of them for the holiday season.