It’s no secret that 2020 was brutal on the air travel business and also, therefore, brutal on Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTIA). 

But, in 2021, every now and then there are some green shoots – signs of air travel at the airport getting healthier.  This week, Allegiant Air announced that it would start non-stop service from PTIA to Nashville in the summer.

In March of 2020, when the pandemic hit, the air traffic in and out of PTIA virtually ground to a halt, and flight after flight was canceled.  The fact that PTIA now has a new flight being added, rather than taken away, is a sign that things are finally getting better.

PTIA announced that Allegiant Airlines will begin the non-stop service from the Piedmont Triad International Airport to Nashville in June,

PTIA Executive Director Kevin Baker has been looking for any good news he could find over the last 10 months, so he was very pleased with this evidence that there’s some light at the end of the pandemic tunnel.

“Direct service to Nashville has been on our radar for a long time,” Baker stated in a press release announcing the non-stop flights. “We’re delighted that Allegiant is planning to offer this new service to Nashville.”

Whenever new service is added at PTIA Baker strongly encourages the community to use it so the airlines will see the benefits of adding flights at PTIA.  A few years ago, when some flights to Florida were added Baker practiced what he preached: He got a large group of his friends together for a Florida vacation.

This summer he’d like nothing more than seeing a lot of local residents jetting off to the County Music Capital of the World.

“We encourage the community to take advantage of it,” Baker said of the coming Nashville opportunity.

Allegiant’s new seasonal route will operate twice weekly, on Thursdays and Sundays, beginning June 3. Flight times, along with the lowest fares, can be found at Allegiant.com.

 

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