AllegiantAir's twice-a-week flights from Pueblo to Las Vegas are nearly full each trip, but those customers aren't ordering the rental cars, hotel rooms and entertainment packages that are the airline's real source of profit, City Council was warned Monday night. Dave Cardinal, from the city's Airport Advisory Committee, briefed council that he'd met with Allegiant senior executives and was told that the Pueblo-to-Las Vegas flights are not producing the money the airline wants — especially if Allegiant is expected to expand its Pueblo air service to Phoenix as well.
Cardinal said Allegiant actually loses money on its per passenger costs on each flight, but expects to make money on the commissions it gets for linking passengers to hotel rooms, car rentals and Las Vegas shows. A visit to the airline's website illustrates all of the other services it sells.
"Allegiant isn't really an airline, it's a travel company," Cardinal explained.
Councilman Larry Atencio, who is a member of the airport committee, put it a different way to his colleagues.
"The problem is we have a lot of savvy customers in Pueblo who like the cheap air fares to Vegas but they're not using Allegiant for the other services," he said.
Whether those cost-savvy customers might drive off Allegiant wasn't discussed, but Cardinal and Mark Lovin, the city's airport manager, said the city needs to do a more focused job in marketing to make it profitable for Allegiant to serve Pueblo.
"I think you're going to see Allegiant start selling tickets in a more traditional way, where the discount will come by purchasing well in advance," Lovin said, adding that Allegiant plans to add a third Las Vegas flight to the two flights it provides on Thursdays and Sundays.
Allegiant began offering the Las Vegas flights back in October and Cardinal reported that every flight is 80-90 percent full. Many of the customers are from Pueblo, but Allegiant reported that riders are coming from regional cities as well, including Colorado Springs and Fort Collins, and even some from Kansas.
Council took the news with some concern. Allegiant flights are a key component in council's hopes that Pueblo Memorial Airport will generate more than 10,000 riders this year — a threshold that would allow the city to qualify for additional Federal Aviation Administration support.
Councilman Chris Kaufman asked when Allegiant's agreement with Pueblo expires and was told in October.
"But we were told that (a flight to) Phoenix is still in the cards," Cardinal added hopefully.
And if faltering airline flights weren't enough, council also heard from Pueblo Animal Services about the city's growing feral cat problem. Feral cats are wild cats that usually shun human contact, live in "colonies" around some central food source, which is often a person willing to feed them.
Julie Justman, from the animal services, asked council to authorize an ordinance that would let designated volunteers trap feral cats, bring them to the shelter to be neutered, and then take them back for release in the home neighborhood or colony. Justman said that "trap and release" is the only strategy for dealing with feral cats that appears to be successful because many animal caretakers object to having strays or feral cats impounded or euthanized.
Justman assured council that Pueblo Animal Services would operate the program with private grants and volunteer caretakers for the cat colonies, so council welcomed her proposal. They advised City Manager Jerry Pacheco to bring the requested ordinance to council's meeting next Monday for first reading consideration.( source : chieftain.com)
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