ST. CLOUD – Air service between St. Cloud and Destin, Fla., is coming to an abrupt end as Allegiant Air is canceling the last 10 or so scheduled flights, according to St. Cloud Regional Airport Director Bill Towle.
In February, Nevada-based Allegiant announced flights between St. Cloud and Destin from June through August.
But on Thursday, the St. Cloud airport announced on its website that the remaining flights have been canceled "after struggles to find employees and crew to handle the increased traffic for both Allegiant Air and Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport."
Towle said he received an e-mail from Allegiant indicating struggles finding crews for flights and staff at the Destin airport, as well as possible mechanical issues with equipment at the Destin airport. The St. Cloud Regional Airport isn't seeing the same issues, Towle said.
"The crews for the airline are not based here," he said. "The reservation folks and folks that handle the airplanes — they're generally fully staffed. We have TSA folks here. All of our equipment is working. So, nothing on the St. Cloud end.
"I think the last straw was the storm that came through was delaying things where they had to cancel some other flights," Towle continued. "Based on the temporary or seasonal duration of this route — it was like nine weeks or so — they finally just decided to say, 'You know what, it's just not going to work for us this summer.' "
Allegiant also offers year-round flights from St. Cloud to Mesa, Ariz., and seasonal flights to Punta Gorda, Fla., which is near Fort Myers. The Punta Gorda flights are slated to start again in December. Allegiant's website shows flights scheduled through February.
Allegiant recently announced year-round service between Minneapolis and Asheville, N.C., and Punta Gorda, as well as seasonal service between Minneapolis and Palm Beach, Fla. Allegiant will become the 18th airline to serve the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, with flights beginning in October.
Towle said he doesn't see that announcement as an indication the airline will stop serving St. Cloud's airport.
"It certainly got our attention, but we talked to Allegiant and they say they're not doing it based on any concern from St. Cloud service," he said. "It looks to be just another location where they want to compete."
Jenny Berg • 612-673-7299
Twitter: @bergjenny
