Allegiant to fly nonstop between Provo and Phoenix/Mesa, Ariz.

PROVO — City officials announced Wednesday that Allegiant Air will soon offer nonstop jet service between Provo and the Phoenix/Mesa Ariz., area.

The new flights will operate Mondays and Fridays between Provo International Airport and Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport beginning Feb. 15, 2013.

“The people around here love the Provo airport and are ready to embrace this new service,” said Provo Mayor John R. Curtis. “We look forward to a long, successful partnership with Allegiant.”

Provo Airport Manager Steve Gleason said they are expanding the Provo terminal, adding a second gate, and the airport continues to negotiate with other airlines.

The news comes a few months after Frontier announced it will stop its daily flights from Provo to Denver on Jan. 7, 2013. The airline will pull out of the city just 15 months after it first landed in Provo in 2011.

Gleason had been working hard to get another airline to fly to the airport or risk having the Transportation Security Administration pull out its equipment and employees, and making it very difficult to get future flights. 

Allegiant also has flights going to the Ogden-Hinckley Airport, but the company said the flights are on different days and it believes there is enough demand to fly to two Utah airports. 

Allegiant was founded in 1997 in Fresno, Calif. It provides nonstop, scheduled service for more than 75 U.S. cities.

— Viviane Vo-Duc