Coming off record year, Gateway Airport adding 2 destinations

PHOENIX – Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport isn’t resting on its laurels after setting an annual record for passenger traffic.

Coming off a year when it served more than 1.5 million travelers, the East Valley airport revealed two new destinations for 2019 on Tuesday.

Allegiant Air, the airport’s largest carrier, will be adding nonstop service to Grand Junction, Colorado, in April and Kalispell, Montana, in May.

“They’ll be flying twice a week, and it will be year-round service,” Ryan Smith, the airport’s director of communications, told KTAR News 92.3 FM.

With the new routes, travelers will be able to reach 50 North American cities nonstop from Gateway.

New nonstop service with @Allegiant connecting you to Grand Junction, Colorado AND Glacier National Park/Kalispell, Montana! Choose your adventure and head over to https://t.co/rd7MF1a9mi to book your flight today! pic.twitter.com/A6X8WwrZ7K

— Gateway Airport (@gatewayairport) January 15, 2019

For more than 30 of those destinations, there are no direct flights from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Smith said.

“That’s one of the reasons that I think a lot of people are choosing to fly out of Gateway,” he said.

December was the busiest month ever for the airport, which opened in 1994, with 142,667 passengers, pushing the yearly total to 1,531,648.

“December was our eighth consecutive month of record-setting activity, and 2018 finished off our best year ever,” Smith said.

Gateway has now seen 15 consecutive months of passenger growth.

In addition, with the Flair Air joining Allegiant, California Pacific Airlines, Swoop and WestJet, December was the first month five carriers operated from the airport.

And travelers can expect to see more options in the future.

“We continue to look to add additional routes,” Smith said. “We’re working on new destinations and new cities to be able to serve.”

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Ashley Flood contributed to this report.

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