Yeager to offer direct flights from Charleston to Las Vegas

November 29, 2007

by George Hohmann
Daily Mail Business Editor

photo by Rick Lee

Kanawha County officials were set to announce today that direct air service linking Charleston and Las Vegas will begin in early March.

Rick Atkinson, director of Yeager Airport, said, "It is an exciting opportunity for the people of West Virginia to have direct service to Las Vegas, one of the most popular tourist and convention business locations in the world."

Southern Skyways will offer the service from Charleston to Las Vegas on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays and from Las Vegas on Tuesdays and Fridays.

According to the airline's Web site, www.southernskyways.com, flights will be offered at fares as low as $169 each way, although the fare posted on the Web site is $189. Tickets can be purchased now online.

Flights will begin March 11, with departures from Charleston on Tuesdays at 6:25 p.m., Fridays at 10 a.m. and Saturdays at 10 a.m.

Flights from Las Vegas depart Tuesdays at 11 a.m. and Fridays at 6 p.m.

Southern Skyways is the company that provided scheduled charter air service linking Charleston and Myrtle Beach, S.C., last summer. That service was wildly popular.

Unlike the Myrtle Beach service, Las Vegas "could be a year-round program because Vegas really doesn't have a season," Atkinson said.

The impact the Las Vegas service will have on Tri-State Racetrack & Gaming Center in Nitro is unclear. Tri-State currently offers greyhound racing, off-track betting and 1,800 slot machines. In August Kanawha County voters approved table games at Tri-State and the resort is gearing up for a major expansion.

Tri-State has said it will invest more than $250 million to hire 1,000 more workers and to build a 250-room hotel, a conference center, an event arena and a 5,000-space parking garage.

"I don't think it will have any impact," Dan Adkins, vice president of Tri-State's corporate parent, Hartman & Tyner, said today of the Las Vegas service.

"Vegas is Vegas," he said. "People will always go to Vegas. You can't duplicate Vegas. They're getting a lot of business travelers.

"In fact, I view it as a positive," Adkins said. "I've never been one to worry about competition, especially when it is 1,500 miles away."

Adkins said Tri-State is pushing ahead with its expansion plans.

Southern Skyways will use Boeing 757 aircraft configured for 176 passengers, spokesman Cary Evans said. There will be 20 business-class seats and 156 coach seats.

After flights from Charleston land in Las Vegas, the aircraft will go on to the Oakland-San Francisco, Calif., airport. That means travelers going to the Oakland-San Francisco area can book tickets and fly there with one stop without having to switch planes or baggage. "They'll be on the ground about an hour in Las Vegas," Evans said.

The aircraft is going to Oakland because it will also be used for flights from Oakland to Hawaii, although those flights will be a private shuttle, Evans said.

Southern Skyways will offer one-stop flights from Oakland-San Francisco to Charleston. The company's Web site says Charleston-Oakland fares will be as low as $258 each way.

Allegiant Air, another scheduled charter air service, offers flights from Huntington's Tri-State Airport to Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and will begin service to Tampa Bay on Feb. 9. Allegiant offers flights from some other cities to Las Vegas.

"Anywhere Allegiant has put Las Vegas service in, they have been very successful," Atkinson said. "We believe these Southern Skyways flights will also be very successful. Las Vegas is always a top destination."

Evans said, "Our experience with Myrtle Beach and Charleston proved that there is pent-up demand for leisure destinations. We have studied Allegiant Airlines' model and we believe their methodology of service from smaller markets to Las Vegas applies to Charleston. The reason Allegiant doesn't serve Charleston and other Eastern seaboard cities is, their aircraft don't have the range. The aircraft we're using can provide coast-to-coast service.

"We would expect to draw passengers from a wider area than just Charleston because there are no other non-stops to Las Vegas from nearby cities," he said.

Atkinson said Las Vegas ranks about sixth among the top destinations of travelers who use Yeager Airport. Other popular destinations: New York City, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Orlando, Houston and Tampa.

The Southern Skyways service to Las Vegas "just proves that there are opportunities for different airline models to serve our market and make money doing it," Atkinson said.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the convention and meetings business in Las Vegas has shifted from being a filler during slow periods "into a pillar of the casino industry." According to the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority, 6.3 million business travelers visited Las Vegas last year for conventions or business meetings.

Atkinson said, "We will have more announcements from Southern Skyways in the next couple of months. They're working on a couple more destinations for us and they're working on service to Myrtle Beach. They realize now how long they can run the service to Myrtle Beach so they're trying to make sure they have the aircraft in the market to match the full season -- they know it runs into the fall."

The new service was to be announced at a press conference at the airport. Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper and Commissioner Hoppy Shores were among the dignitaries expected to attend.

The Central West Virginia Convention and Visitors Bureau passed two policy statements regarding air service at Yeager during a meeting this morning.

The bureau said that air chartered carriers that offer nonstop service from Charleston at least twice weekly to a destination not currently served may be eligible for up to $125,000 in marketing support.

The convention and visitors bureau also said it is committed to investing up to $500,000 "in an airline that would establish Charleston" as a base of operations that would provide significant air service increases to the region."