Allegiant flies to 22 destinations from Sarasota Bradenton airport. Learn about No. 23
Allegiant is starting nonstop service between Sarasota Bradenton International Airport and Peoria, Ill. International Airport on May 27 with one-way fares as low as $59.
The new nonstop route to the Illinois city, famous for the question, “Will it play in Peoria?” will operate twice weekly. Flight days, times and the fares can be found at Allegiant.com.
Allegiant’s seats and dates are limited and fares are not available on all flights. Flights must be purchased by Jan. 13 for travel by Aug. 15. Price displayed includes taxes, carrier charges and government fees. Optional baggage charges and additional restrictions may apply.
“We are excited to see that Allegiant is adding nonstop service between Peoria and the Sarasota-Bradenton area. We look forward to the continued growth and success of Allegiant at SRQ and the ultra-low-cost fares they provide,” said Rick Piccolo, SRQ’s president and chief executive officer.
“Twelve days into 2021 and this is the second city that we have added. With Peoria we now serve 43 cities. It is a far cry from 2018 when we served 12 cities,” Piccolo said.
The question, will it play in Peoria, originated during vaudeville days in the 1920s, according to Discover Peoria.
“After a new live act or stage show was produced, it was soon booked into a Peoria theater to test audience reaction to the show. If the show did not receive a strong positive approval, one of two things could happen: the production was rewritten, recast, or otherwise improved, or it was canceled. Because Peoria was viewed as the ‘typical’ American town, if a show could achieve the approval of the Peoria audience, it would be successful anywhere in the country,” according to the web site.
With Peoria, Allegiant will be serving 23 destinations from SRQ. The airline has been a major force in making SRQ one of the nation’s fastest growing airports. SRQ has rebounded strongly from the effects of the pandemic with service levels roughly equal to 2019, and about 60 percent of 2020 before the pandemic came close to grounding air traffic in the United States.
Allegiant launched service to SRQ in April of 2018. Service initially was only to Indianapolis, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.
United Airlines announced earlier this month that it has added daily nonstop service between SRQ and George Bush Intercontinental/Houston Airport, starting Feb. 11.
Southwest Airlines, a long requested carrier by travelers in the Bradenton and Sarasota area, begins service to SRQ on Feb. 14.
Initial service by Southwest includes to and from Baltimore/Washington, Chicago (Midway), Houston (Hobby), and Nashville. On March 13 through April 10, Southwest adds Saturday-only routes through April 10 to Columbus, Ohio, Indianapolis and Pittsburgh.
This story was originally published January 12, 2021 at 11:30 AM.
