PUNTA GORDA — Frontier Airlines’ new flights into Punta Gorda cut travel time to the airport in half for Tony and Beryl Rotunno.
The new nonstop service to Philadelphia, Chicago O’Hare and Trenton, New Jersey, is rolling out this week and adding a second low-cost carrier to the Allegiant Air-dominated Punta Gorda Airport. The Rotunnos, a New Jersey-based couple, bought a second home in Port Charlotte two years ago and have been flying into Tampa International Airport or Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers about once a month ever since.
The airfare, typically, determines how they fly, Tony Rotuno said, but if the fares are comparable, the flights between Trenton and Punta Gorda shortens the hour or two-hour hike to the airport to about 30 minutes.
“This is very convenient,” Rotunno said. “I think it’s great that Allegiant now has competition for this airport.”
Punta Gorda Airport, which didn’t even have commercial service a decade ago, has boomed in recent years with more than 30 percent annual growth. James Parish, the airport’s president and CEO, welcomed more than a million passengers for the first time. Punta Gorda Airport, which just underwent a 45,000-square-foot expansion, has plenty of room to grow, too. Today, the space is only operating at 75 percent capacity.
This could just be the beginning for Frontier in Charlotte County, said Darrin Hughes, regional manager for Frontier.
“I would anticipate growth here,” Hughes said. “There’s plenty of room for us to grow, and other carriers to grow because this airport has staged itself to grow.”