Local travellers who head to Duluth for flights, specifically for Vegas trips, still have options, say officials with the Duluth airport.
Allegiant Air told the Duluth International Airport Wednesday it's getting out of the city, stopping its twice-weekly direct flights to Las Vegas as of May 18.
Many in Thunder Bay drive the 300 kilometres to Duluth to take advantage of lower airfare costs and travel time.
Duluth airport's communications and marketing director Natalie Peterson said the airline is shifting its focus to bigger markets, especially in the Northeastern part of the United States.
With that move. Allegiant hasn't increased its fleet or crew, pulling them out of places like Duluth. The airport had increased its marketing to try and get Allegiant to stay over the last year but Peterson said it wasn't enough.
"Quite frankly I don't know if anything would have changed their minds because of where their strategy is headed," she said.
Peterson said the airport has been in talks with other airlines to try and get another direct flight to not only Las Vegas but other destinations, including Europe and Mexico.
"Just because Allegiant is gone doesn't mean that that route or other routes won't be fulfilled by another charter or low-cost carrier airline," she said.
Delta Air Lines and United Airlines also currently fly out of Duluth, with stop-overs in places like Minneapolis. Peterson said those airlines have been competitive with Allegiant.
Selecting a random a trip between April 2 and April 9, Allegiant's three hour flight was around $563 Canadian. Delta, with a 45-minute stop in Minneapolis, came to $487 Canadian.
For that same time period, an $819 Air Canada flight includes a 13-hour trip with stops in Toronto and Denver. The return flight, with a stop in Toronto, is around nine hours.
Westjet's $845 trip included stops in Toronto, each way took around 10 hours.
