Allegiant Air (G4, Las Vegas Harry Reid) has announced that it will open a base, in Des Moines, Iowa, with the operation scheduled to commence on May 14, 2020.

The ultra-low-cost carrier (ULCC) will base two A320-200s at Iowa state's capital city airport, which it said represents a USD50 million investment.

"For Allegiant to select Des Moines International Airport as a base is a historic day for Des Moines, our airport and the two-and-a-half million passengers who fly through our city each year," Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie said. "The financial investment and well-paying jobs this brings to our community is significant and most appreciated. And to those flight crews and ground personnel who will be our new neighbours, we say thank you for flying Allegiant and welcome to Des Moines."

"In many ways, today's announcement is the culmination of a more than 15-year relationship between Allegiant and Des Moines International Airport, where we've steadily grown our operation to meet increasing demand," said Keith Hansen, Allegiant's Vice President of Government Affairs. "Having locally-based aircraft and crews will open up a wide range of options for new service and more flights throughout the day. We're excited to bring more opportunities for affordable, convenient travel, and expand Allegiant's presence as a hometown airline for Hawkeye state residents."

Allegiant began service to Des Moines in 2003. According to the ch-aviation schedules module, the ULCC currently flies to six domestic destinations from the Iowa airport, namely Las Vegas Harry Reid (5x weekly), Orlando Sanford (4x weekly), Phoenix Williams Gateway (3x weekly), Punta Gorda, FL (3x weekly), Sarasota/Bradenton (2x weekly) and St. Petersburg/Clearwater (3x weekly). These will be joined in May 2020 by a 2x weekly service to Destin-Fort Walton Beach and a 4x weekly sector to Los Angeles International.

In making the base announcement, the airline said that in 2018 it carried more than 232,000 annual passengers through Des Moines, and is on track to eclipse that number in 2019.

The ULCC recently announced that it was withdrawing its planned operations to Fort Collins/Loveland, due to commence on November 21, due to the lack of a fully compliant air control tower at the northern Colorado regional airport.