‘Access the Music City’ with nonstop flights from Gulfport to Nashville. Here are the details
A Nashville getaway will be so much easier beginning Feb. 15, when nonstop flights begin from Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport.
The announcement came Tuesday that Allegiant Air will start twice weekly flights on Wednesdays and Saturdays between Nashville International Airport and Gulfport, with introductory fares for as low as $55 one-way.
That price includes taxes and government fees, but not optional baggage charges. Dates are limited and for this fare, and flights must be purchased by Nov. 13 for travel by Aug. 15, 2020.
“It’s a great city for us,” Clay Williams, executive director of the Gulfport airport, said as the crowd who gathered for the announcement applauded the new service. “Nashville continues to see tremendous growth,” he said, “and this route will provide Coast residents with easy, nonstop access to the Music City.”
Instead of a 9-hour drive from the Coast, it’s about an 80-minute flight. “It makes a huge difference,” he said.
The route also will bring residents of the Nashville area to the Coast for casinos, beaches and attractions.
Williams credited the state airline incentives for the new service, along with 5 Coast casinos — Harrah’s Gulf Coast, IP, Beau Rivage and Golden Nugget in Biloxi and Island View in Gulfport — for supporting the route by purchasing seats.
“Without them we couldn’t do it,” he said.
Gov. Phil Bryant said the airline incentives that attract new service to the state started in 2016. Mississippi has invested $3 million since then, he said, and for every $1 spent the state receives $12 in economic benefits in return. More than 24 million people visited Mississippi last year, he said, and about 35 percent of them came to the Coast.
Harrah’s Gulf Coast already brings customers from the Orlando/Sanford area to Biloxi on Allegiant, said Kennedy Smith, vice president of marketing and hospitality. “We have plans in the works to partner with Allegiant to activate our Casino Rewards database in Nashville,” he said.
Harrah’s also brings customers on charter flights to the Coast from across the country and he said the casino plans 47 of the 150-seat charters next year. Many of the people on their player database may not have heard of Biloxi or don’t know enough about the Coast to come on their own, he said. “Once they get here the selling is easy,” he said, and they often return.
In addition to the two Allegiant routes, Sun Country airlines offers seasonal low-cost flights from Gulfport to Minneapolis, Minnesota through mid-December. Sun Country began seasonal flights to Austin, Texas, and Ft. Myers, Florida, in July and they continue until Dec. 16.
This story was originally published November 12, 2019 at 11:09 AM.
