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PROVO — It didn't take long for the now improved Provo City Airport to find a new airline partner.
As the city celebrated the grand opening of its $55 million terminal Friday, Breeze Airways announced it will begin service out of Provo to five destinations, including nonstop service to Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Francisco beginning in August.
Allegiant Air also used Friday's ceremony to announce new service routes to four new cities to begin later this year.
The two airlines' expansion is exactly what Provo officials hoped for when work on a new terminal began in 2019. The new terminal, which opens for business Saturday, features 10 new gates with enough room to seat 630 people in a traveler's common area. There's also a family lounge area, an outlook lounge, a "reunion court" for people awaiting arriving passengers, as well as concessions from local retail shops and restaurants.
"Today is a day to celebrate more than a building," said Provo Mayor Michelle Kaufusi. "It's a day to celebrate a vision and collaboration."
The city is hosting an open house event for residents Saturday before the terminals are used for the first time last year this year.
Getting to the future quicker
While flying in Provo began a bit earlier, the Provo airport dates back to 1939, which is when Merrill and Lucile Christopherson opened an airfield on a sugar beet field in the area. The first few runways were created nearby in the early 1940s. Airline services began to come and go beginning in the 1950s but didn't really pick up again until 2011 with Frontier Airlines.
But Provo has grown very much since 1939. It's now home to over 115,000 people, and Utah County is quickly on the rise.
Kaufusi said she first learned that there was a new airport terminal in the city's 20-year long-term plans shortly after she took office in late 2017. Given the sudden and ongoing growth of the county, she decided the city needed to speed up its process.
"I questioned why ... what's the magic thing that's going to happen in 20 years?" she said. "It feels like we found a way to reach into the future and pull it forward today. And gazing at this facility, the future hasn't looked so good."
Through local, state and federal help, ground broke on the project back in 2019. They were able to work around labor and supply chain shortages to help them complete the project close to the original timeframe and budget.
Kaufusi began to tear up Friday as she thought about all that went into the project to get it into the position it's in now. City officials say it'll begin having flights this summer, especially which will ramp up with competing services in August.
"The passion projects — when people tell you, no, you won't be able to pull it off ... I'm just so proud of all the people who made this happen," she said.
The Provo airline service battle
Low-cost carriers appear to be very interested in the early arrival of the future. Both Allegiant Air and Breeze Airways used Friday's ceremony to announce major investments into the future of the airport. The event even ended with them comically upstaging one another in a bout of best ceremony giveaway: 10 free flights versus 100,000 travel points.
It started with Allegiant, which first began Provo operations in 2013. It announced last week that it would invest $95 million to expand operations with a four-plane base in Provo. However, Keith Hansen, vice president of government affairs, Allegiant Air, said that interest in the announcement led the company to add a fifth aircraft in Provo.
"That means more jobs, more economic impact and, of course, more value to the community," he said.
Hansen also announced new flights to San Diego and Las Vegas in August; Portland, Oregon, in September; and Orlando in December. Those are in addition to eight cities the airline already has service to from Provo.
As for Breeze Airways, which is headquartered in Cottonwood Heights, it's not only now the second airline with service in Provo, Friday's announcement marks the first in-state service for the Utah company. The airline was first announced in 2019 and cleared to begin operations last year.
The new Breeze service options and introductory fares out of Provo include the following:
- San Francisco (daily nonstop, starting Aug. 4, from $39 one way).
- San Bernardino, California (daily one-stop/no change of plane, starting Aug. 4, from $49).
- Las Vegas (daily nonstop, starting Oct. 5, from $29).
- New York/Westchester (daily one-stop/no change of plane, starting Oct. 5, from $99).
- Los Angeles (daily nonstop, starting Nov. 2, from $39).
Prior to Friday's event David Neeleman, Breeze's founder and CEO, said the top question he's received since then is when it will actually have service in Utah. That's why he's excited to bring service to Provo.
"The beautiful, newly renovated Provo airport will give our guests an easy-breezy way to travel to both coasts," he said.
Lukas Johnson, the company's chief commercial officer, added that Breeze will also have a four-plane base in Provo this year as its service begins in August. It plans to hire 200 new employees to be based in the area.
The company opened the Breeze Training Academy in Salt Lake City earlier this year to help train pilots, attendants and other staff.
While the two companies are now fighting to be the hometown airline for the Provo airport, Hansen said the arrival of the new Provo terminal is much more than a friendly competition or even the airport itself.
"The day is really bigger ... than just any airline, and candidly, it's bigger than any airport," he said. "It's not just about the airport. This is about the community. This is about Provo and about Utah County and what this airport will do for the economy here."
