Allegiant in Lehigh Valley

Allegiant has just picked up the Sanford-Orlando route out of LeHigh Valley that was left open when TransMeridian closed shop. As mentioned before, privately held companies like TransMeridian and SouthEast Airlines (closed last year) can shut down with basically no notice since their financials are unknown.

The only good thing is that cities, which showed that they were able to maintain high passenger loads, with either of these failed airlines, had other airlines eager to take their place. Just this month Allegiant picked up TransMeridian routes out of Rockford, Toledo and now LeHigh Valley.

The interesting thing at LeHigh Valley is that Hooters has a strong presence with flights to Orlando (not Sanford), St Pete's and Fort Lauderdale. I thought Allegiant would have passed and let Hooters have the marketplace, especially since they fly to Orlando, not Sanford. Makes me think Allegiant has decided to compete against them and must be entertaining the addition of other Florida destiantions?

This also confirms that ORH needs to reach out to Hooters. Based in Myrtle Beach, Hooters flight from ORH-Myrtle Beach in the winter months would be a huge success, not to mention St Pete's and Fort Lauderdale. Ask any golfer you know if they have been to Myrtle Beach in the winter and what they would think of an ORH-Myrtle flight.