Allegiant Air is a key part of the airline lineup at Syracuse Hancock International Airport. Since November 2013, Allegiant has grown its presence. It has expanded beyond its Florida destinations. It now includes destinations in South Carolina and Tennessee.
Allegiant appeals well to budget conscious travelers. Customers include Syracuse University students and Central New Yorkers looking to beat the harsh winters.
This article provides details on Allegiants current routes from Syracuse. It also covers Allegiant’s customer profile, competition positioning, and future outlook in Syracuse’s aviation market.
Allegiant Air’s Role in Syracuse Passenger Aviation Market
Allegiant Air started service from Syracuse Hancock International Airport in November 2013.
Their first offering was a twice weekly flight to St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport near Tampa.
Since then, Allegiant has continued to grow its offerings to Florida. As of January 2025, the airline has expanded their route offerings to 7 destinations. While most of the destinations still include Florida, Allegiant flies now to Tennessee and South Carolina.
See below for Allegiant’s Route Offerings From Syracuse:
Florida
Syracuse – Orlando
Allegiant offers flights into Orlando’s Sanford International Airport. It is important to note that this airport is not the main airport in Orlando.
Orlando International Airport is the primary airport in the region. Allegiant’s business model focuses on flying to secondary airports.
According to flightsfrom.com, Allegiant’s routes between Orlando and Syracuse are offered all year round, everyday of the week. However, Allegiant is known only flying on days when there is passenger demand. So their flight schedule can change at whim. It is best practice to confirm before you book your flight.
This flight is offered once per day, in both directions.
Syracuse – Tampa
From Syracuse, Allegiant Air flies down to Tampa via St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport. This airport again is not the primary airport near the city.
Allegiant flies this route every day of the week in both directions. It is also offered all year round.
Syracuse – Sarasota
Sarasota, Florida – Syracuse flight is available all year round. Yet, unlike Orlando and Tampa, it is only flown two days per week. Currently, these days are Wednesday and Saturday. The flight into Sarasota will end at Sarasota–Bradenton International Airport.
Syracuse – Punta Gorda
Allegiant offers a seasonal flight down to Punta Gorda via Punta Gorda Airport. The route is currently offered until August. This flight flies five times per week. Every day of the week except Saturdays and Tuesday. There is a once a day flight in both directions.
Syracuse – Fort Lauderdale
The final Florida offering that Allegiant currently has for travelers out of Syracuse is down to Fort Lauderdale. The flight to Fort Lauderdale is offered all year long, once a day in both directions.
These flights are offered everyday of the week except for Tuesday. Allegiant uses Fort Lauderdale International Airport for this flight.
South Carolina
Syracuse – Myrtle Beach
Myrtle Beach is Allegiant’s only South Carolina destination as of January 2025. These flights use Myrtle Beach International Airport. This flight is only offered seasonally. It is flown 3 times per week on Saturday, Sunday, and Thursday. Flights both inbound and outbound from Syracuse are flown once per daily in each direction.
Tennessee
Syracuse – Nashville
Nashville is the Allegiant’s only destination in Tennessee offered from Syracuse. Unlike its other non-Florida offering from Syracuse, Nashville is offered all year long. Flights are flown three days per week, once a day in both directions.
As it stands today, weekends and Thursday are the days this flight is offered. Flights will either arrive or depart using Nashville International Airport.
Allegiant’s Customer Profile and Competition in Syracuse
Allegiant’s commitment to Syracuse has been rock solid evidenced by the route additions and minimal route removals. That means the flights are performing well enough for the airline to justify keeping these routes from Syracuse on their schedule.
Allegiant’s Competition in Syracuse
Allegiant Air does not rank in the top 5 airlines flying out of Syracuse – Hancock. Between November 2023 and October 2024, American, Delta, Endeavor (Delta brand), Southwest, and JetBlue combined to generate 52% of the market share of passengers at the airport. United, Breeze, Sun Country, and Allegiant made up the remaining 48%.
But it is worth nothing that Allegiant is the most prominent ultra low cost carrier at the airport. Making it the most successful ULCC in Syracuse. Frontier and Sun Country fly from the airport, but to only 1 or 2 destinations.
Allegiant Serves Students and Central New Yorkers
This likely has to do with the customer demographic around Syracuse. Syracuse, New York is home to Syracuse University. Syracuse University has an undergraduate population of over 15,000 students. A portion of these students are not working full time and want to go away on spring break. Allegiant’s likely serves as a low cost solution for these students.
Allegiant also serves customers in Central New York who are looking to beat cold weather. Snowbirds, or someone looking to go on cheap vacation may opt to use Allegiant over an airline like American.
With flights to Orlando home to Disney World, and party cities of Fort Lauderdale and Nashville, it is clear that Allegiant is tapping into the market demand for leisure travel in Central New York.
Flight Experience with Allegiant
Allegiant Air flies their Airbus A320 fleet on routes from Syracuse. While Allegiant’s in cabin product is nothing special, it does get the job done.
With ultra low cost airlines, you have to remember why they are ultra low cost in the first place. To charge the lowest prices on the market, creature comforts like inflight entertainment will be sacrificed. And Allegiant Air makes no exception to that.
Room for Improvement?
One thing that Allegiant needs to improve upon at Syracuse is their on-time performance. According to the 2024 Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 68% of Allegiant’s departures from Syracuse left on time. That is quite significantly below the average at the airport in 2024, which was 81%.
This is likely due to adverse weather in both Central New York and Florida. The colder weather takes its toll on airplanes, requiring more maintenance for safe travel. Also, Florida’s propensity of thunderstorms and hurricanes can leave planes delayed at their departure airports waiting for a break in the weather.
However, when you look at the standard at Syracuse-Hancock, an airline like Delta Air Lines is performing at 86% of all departures leaving on time.
Future Outlook
While it doesn’t seem that Allegiant Air will be committing more to Syracuse, it can be safe to say that the routes out of this city are safe. There will always be Syracuse University. There are going to be students looking to go on a cheap spring break somewhere warm. Central New Yorkers will continue to battle colder weather and want to make their way down South.
The only real opportunity for Allegiant in Syracuse is making themselves more competitive and capturing more of Syracuse’s leisure market share. As of now, Allegiant is dominating leisure travel at Syracuse. But, Breeze Airways is starting to challenge Allegiant in the low cost leisure market on several interesting routes.
Will Breeze Airways be a thorn in Allegiant Air’s Side in Syracuse?
Breeze is a low cost carrier but like Allegiant Air, flies to secondary airports or underserved destinations. At Syracuse, Breeze challenges Allegiant on only one or two routes. But Breeze is an airline that is definitely generating momentum nationwide. They are expanding their flight network quite rapidly.
Unlike Allegiant, Breeze offers flights to alternative leisure destinations, like Las Vegas. Destinations that Allegiant does not fly to. If Breeze continues to establish itself, they may look to expand down in Florida and begin to challenge Allegiant on several of those routes.
Allegiant Air needs to figure out a counter to Breeze in Syracuse. The value proposition of being cheaper than most airlines likely won’t fly if Breeze does choose to expand. Breeze offers a more modern and quality product compared to Allegiant.
All this is purely speculative, Allegiant and Breeze can very well decide to coexist at Syracuse.
Conclusion
Allegiant’s business model is very intriguing to say the least. Operationally, it makes sense to only fly when there is demand. But sometimes, that approach can leave revenue on the table. But with lack of direct competition on Syracuse’s leisure market, Allegiant’s Syracuse operations aren’t half bad.
Syracuse is a place that can either be hot or cold when it comes to passenger demand. Allegiant definitely sees an uptick of traffic around spring break times. Students from Syracuse University book flights to warm vacation destinations on a budget. Around the same time, Central New Yorkers are seeking these similar destinations to beat the cold New York winter.
While there is plenty of upside and Allegiant can pat themselves on the back for dominating Syracuse’s leisure market share, I can’t help but feel a little bit more being left on the table for the airline. Can Allegiant offer more flights per day?
There is also room for improvement. First of all, their on-time departure rates from Syracuse are abysmal. Not much they can do with the regional weather issues though.
However, with Breeze Airways rapidly growing nationwide, and having a presence in Syracuse though flying to alternative leisure destinations, Allegiant needs to keep their product offering out of Syracuse in tip top shape, or run the risk of being forced out.
Sources
https://syrairport.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Fall-2013-Newsletter.pdf?
https://www.allegiantair.com/en/interactive-map
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/syracuse-university-2882
