More seasonal flights returning to Tucson airport

Tucson air travelers will have more options this winter as more seasonal flights are returning to Tucson International Airport.

And tourism-related businesses will get a boost from the Great White North, as ultra-low-cost carrier Flair Airlines launches its first nonstop flights from TIA to Edmonton and five other Canadian cities at the end of November.

While TIA still has a way to go to reach pre-pandemic passenger levels, things are looking up.

At the end of 2021, nine airlines offered service to 19 nonstop destinations from TIA, after the number of nonstop flights had dropped to 15 in pandemic-ravaged 2020.

While all airports lost flights to the pandemic, TIA lost three low-cost carriers last year when Allegiant Air, Frontier Airlines and Avelo Airlines dropped service here as COVID-19 resurged.

With the addition of the Flair flights, TIA will serve nonstops to 22 destinations in the U.S. and Canada.

Flair’s new nonstops start Nov. 30 with arrivals from twice-weekly flights between Tucson and Edmonton and Fort McMurray, Alberta.

Starting in the first week of December will be once-weekly nonstops to Lethbridge, Alberta; London, Ontario; Prince George, British Columbia; and Windsor, Ontario (Detroit).

David Hatfield, senior director of air-service development for the Tucson Airport Authority, said Flair has committed to the Tucson market by basing crews and a new Boeing 737 here that will fly to each of the Canadian destinations once or twice a week.

The airport worked with Customs and Border Protection to renovate the federal inspection station at TIA’s Concourse A, where Flair will be operating, to clear passengers from five of the Canadian airports it will serve, except for Edmonton International, where passengers are pre-cleared by U.S. Customs officers.

Hatfield said Flair was excited about the potential for ferrying Canadians seeking relief from the winter cold to sunny Tucson, and TIA was uniquely positioned to win the flights as an official U.S. Customs Port of Entry.

“Tucson is a uniquely beautiful location that they think will be a very attractive winter destination for them,” Hatfield said.

“We worked with them to make the whole project work, because we have the federal inspection services facility, so they’re flying in from cities that don’t have preclearance there and will be able to go through customs here,” he said. “So this is really a feather in our cap — other cities, like Palm Springs, cannot do this.”

And except for Edmonton, the Flair nonstops are the only flights to a U.S. city for the other five Canadian airports.

Returning flights

Among the seasonal flight returnees is low-cost carrier Sun Country Airlines, which on Dec. 8 returns with nonstop flights to Minneapolis-St. Paul on Thursdays and Sundays, with extra flights through the holidays.

Major airlines serving TIA also have resumed some dropped flights, with plans to expand frequency on some routes.

This fall, American Airlines added a second daily flight to Chicago O’Hare, and United Airlines resumed daily nonstop service to Chicago O’Hare and added a third daily nonstop to San Francisco.

More returns are planned in the coming weeks and months, including additional nonstop flights to Chicago Midway International Airport that Southwest Airlines plans for around the holidays.

TIA provides a list of flight changes, updated weekly, at tucne.ws/1lph.

A quick rundown of other nonstops slated to return this fall and winter, by destination, based on TIA’s airline schedule updates:

Dallas/Fort Worth — American adds a sixth daily flight Nov. 3.

Portland, Oregon — Alaska brings back daily nonstop flights Nov. 18.

Atlanta — Delta adding special, third daily flights Dec. 17-22 and Dec. 26-30.

Minneapolis-St. Paul — Delta resumes daily nonstop flights to Minneapolis-St. Paul on Dec. 17

Atlanta — Delta adds a third daily flight Jan 2.

Southwest is adding flights to Chicago Midway on Nov. 22, 23, 27 and 28; Dec. 21-23 and 26-30; and Jan. 2.

Other additional nonstops from TIA are planned next spring.

In March, Southwest is adding one flight to Midway on Sundays and a second flight on Saturdays and will also add a second nonstop to San Diego on Sundays.

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In February, United is increasing the frequency of its nonstop to Denver to four daily flights, from three.

And Alaska will go from one daily nonstop flight to Seattle to two daily flights starting in mid-March.

Counting seats

Even though TIA is still recovering lost nonstop destinations, the number of routes doesn’t tell the whole story, Hatfield said.

Many airlines are flying larger planes to cope with a shortage of pilots, he said, so while the number of flights may be down, total available seats have risen.

Examples include American Airlines, which is running daily trips to Dallas-Ft. Worth with Airbus A321s, which though classed as a narrow-body jet can carry from 185 to 236 passengers, and Delta is using the same type of plane on nonstops to Atlanta.

Overall, total available seats were up 17% in the fourth quarter of TIA’s fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, compared with the same period last year.

COVID crash

Hatfield said the loss of Allegiant and the other low-cost carriers last year was a blow, but airport officials hope they will eventually return.

In 2020, Allegiant Air suspended and later dropped its nonstop flights to Indianapolis; Provo, Utah; and Bellingham, Washington. The airline restarted nonstops to Provo and Indianapolis in February 2021 and added a route to Las Vegas but dropped Tucson service entirely later last year.

Frontier Airlines, another no-frills carrier, dropped seasonal nonstop flights from TIA to Denver and Las Vegas last year.

And low-cost carrier Avelo Airlines launched a nonstop from Tucson to Hollywood Burbank Airport in December 2021 but dropped the flight in mid-January after a surge in COVID-19 cases from the omicron variant curtailed bookings.

Among other airlines, Alaska has not reinstated a nonstop to Everett, Washington, that it suspended last year.

Hatfield said the airport authority remains in regular contact with Allegiant and Frontier and continues to lobby carriers for new routes.

He said Allegiant had to make a choice on where it could recover and grow the quickest, and the response to its Tucson flights was weak.

Last May, Allegiant exited Albuquerque International Airport, where it served Las Vegas and Austin, Texas. Last summer, Allegiant cut more than 200 flights from Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, though it still flies to 49 destinations from there.

Allegiant spokeswoman Sonya Padgett said she could provide no updates on a possible resumption of Tucson air service.

Frontier’s exit came after the airline announced in May that it would establish a hub at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

Tucson was also in the running for Frontier’s base, Hatfield said.

Hatfield said he believes Allegiant will eventually return, along with Frontier, though bookings on some of their former Tucson routes were disappointing.

“They didn’t get the support from Tucson passengers, and they left, but they will come back, and we remain on great terms with both of them,” he said.

Hatfield said TIA may figure into Allegiant’s future plans for international flights to Mexico, given the Tucson airports proximity to the border and port-of-entry status.

In December, Allegiant and Mexican carrier Viva Aerobus announced an agreement to provide flights between the U.S. and Mexico. The deal was approved by Mexican anti-trust regulators in mid-October and is awaiting approval by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The Tucson Airport Authority has boosted its air-service development efforts and is working to streamline its airline incentive program, which include landing-fee waivers, terminal rent credits and marketing money for airlines that establish new routes.

The airport authority also has hired an additional staffer to help drive air-service development.

Brian Kidd, a 30-year industry veteran who worked for airports in Oakland and Palm Springs, California, and Portland, was named director of air-service development in January.

Photos: Tucson International Airport history in photos