Allegiant Air has made its inaugural flight out of Rochester to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
The low-cost airline will have two flights a week non-stop to Ft. Lauderdale, and add service to Orlando/Sanford starting next month.
Director of Aviation at Rochester's airport, Mike Giardino, says having a Florida destination is important.
"We are primarily a business airport, but for leisure, leisure is big, and we all know, we don't like the nasty weather in the winter, so to have a Florida destination is huge for us."
Giardino says Florida is the number one leisure destination out of Rochester.
Most of the travelers WXXI talked with said it's not the lower fares, but the convenience of a non-stop trip to Florida that attracted them most.
Annette Einbinder was on that inaugural flight, and was looking forward to a non-stop flight to Florida.
"My mother is traveling with us, and it's a lot easier for her not to have to change planes, and for everyone not having to get on and off in terminals, new planes, new gates. In three hours we'll be in Florida, it's wonderful."
Karen Rauchfuss (Rouch-fuss) was headed to Florida to go on a cruise. She says she saved money by flying Allegiant, and she likes the convenience of a non-stop flight.
"We travel a lot and go in and out of JFK a lot where you sit and run you know. It's just much better to go non-stop."
Allegiant spokesman Brandon Myers says the airline saw a demand for affordable, non-stop service to Florida from Rochester.
He says every flight in the Allegiant network is a non-stop flight.
Flights to Orlando/Sanford on Allegiant are scheduled to begin November 13th.
