Airport, Allegiant kick off campaign

VIENNA — A campaign urging local businesses to buy Allegiant Air tickets for employee incentive programs will be unveiled Friday at Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport.

Rubenstein Associates of Liberty has been hired to conduct the marketing campaign, which county officials are touting as ‘‘the first area co-branding and co-promotional program with Valley business and industry.’’ The Western Reserve Port Authority, which oversees the airport, set aside $27,500 for the effort.

Promotions for the campaign will be run on television and the Internet, Lee Ann Heltzel, a spokesperson for the marketing consultant firm, said.

Businesses that purchase tickets will have a variety of choices, from flight tickets only or a package coupled with a hotel and entertainment, airport officials said.

Most flights through August from the airport in Vienna to Orlando Sanford International Airport in Florida range from $59 and $99, according to the Allegiant Air Web site.

‘‘Allegiant has been doing well,’’ Trumbull County Commissioner Daniel Polivka said. ‘‘We want to keep it strong.’’

Polivka said that as a commissioner, he supports the effort wholeheartedly. Trumbull and Mahoning counties support the airport with excise taxes on motel and hotel use.

Officials have pointed out that if the vacation air service continues to get a good response from the community, it helps the Port Authority’s efforts to attract other kinds of flights. The airport has been seeking an airline to offer business travel and other types of daily passenger service.

The idea of encouraging area companies to buy Allegiant Air tickets was conceived by John Masternick, chairman of the Port Authority. He had bought two hotel/airline package tickets to Orlando to give away at his Windsor House employee banquet. It generated so much excitement among his staff, he said, that he recommended the concept to the Port Authority.

Not only would it help Allegiant, but it would benefit companies by boosting morale, the chairman told the Port Authority.

‘‘John’s thoughts were that any methodology we can use to fill seats with Allegiant Air and keep the ridership up would help increase other activity at the airport,’’ Steve Bowser, director of aviation at Youngstown-Warren, said. ‘‘That’s what we’ve done (with the campaign).’’

Bowser has said airport representatives regularly talk with Allegiant and other airlines about expanding service there. Passenger loads, though, are not the only consideration, he noted.

The profit Allegiant can make from the flights is reduced despite high ridership, Bowser has said. That’s because it must keep its pricing competitive with airlines operating out of nearby airports such as Akron-Canton, he noted.



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