TOLEDO – White sandy beaches, tropical blue water, warm weather and bright sunshine sound
pretty good to most Ohioans this time of year. And that’s evident by the number of people who
already have flown Allegiant’s new nonstop route from Toledo to Sarasota/Bradenton.
“We launched the Sarasota flight in November, and we just received data for our first full month, which was December, and we are just really excited to report a 93 percent load factor,” said Thomas Winston, president and CEO of the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority. He explained that “load factor” is an airline industry term for the percentage of seats that are filled on each flight.
“That’s a nearly full plane,” he said.
Winston said Allegiant celebrated its 20th anniversary serving the Eugene F. Kranz Toledo Express Airport in December.
“We’ve demonstrated 20 years of the community supporting the service for Allegiant, and particularly for the kind of destinations for leisure and traveling like Sarasota/Bradenton.
With the addition of the Sarasota/Bradenton International Airport (SRQ), Allegiant now flies from Toledo to a total of four airports in central and Gulf Cost Florida.
“They launched the Orlando-Sanford flight in 2005, added the St. Pete-Clearwater flight in 2006, and then launched the Punta Gorda/Fort Myers flight around 2013,” Winston said. “So when you look at that Gulf Coast area of Florida, we’ve demonstrated the ability to support those leisure and travel opportunities for our residents.”
He noted that people from the Toledo area own more than 200 second homes in the Sarasota/Bradenton area.
“That’s the type of data that airlines, specifically Allegiant, will use and look at,” Winston said, adding that he and his staff meet regularly with airline and airport officials from around the country to discuss possible routes and services.
The Sarasota-Bradenton area already was a popular vacation spot for Toledo-area travelers, according to Paul Hoback, President and CEO of the Sarasota/Bradenton International Airport.
He moved to the Sarasota area from Pittsburgh in October to take the SRQ job and said he meets so many people from Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Pennsylvania that “it just feels like home down here.”
“It’s so exciting for people in the Toledo region to come on vacation down here, to paradise, to be able to enjoy the beaches that we have, the amazing arts and culture that we have here, you know, even the culinary experience, the foods and all of the opportunities you have with that. I mean, it’s just…it’s incredible,” Hoback said.
He said he really does consider the Sarasota-Bradenton area to be a paradise.
“I mean, it’s not just white sandy beaches. It’s boating opportunities, it’s golfing, it’s fishing, it’s the wildlife…. I’ve been exploring the state parks and seeing alligators and manatees and dolphins; it’s just unbelievable. It’s absolute paradise down here, and I think that’s why it’s so easy to sell this region to the rest of the world because it’s your chance to get away.”
Among the area attractions are the beaches of Anna Maria Island, Cortez, Longboat Key, and
Siesta Key. In Sarasota, The Ringling is a museum that is “literally one minute from the airport,” Hoback said.
“There are large buildings that house a lot of memorabilia from the [Ringling Bros. and Barnum
& Bailey] Circus, but it’s not just a circus museum,” he said.
The museum’s extensive art collection features Baroque masterpieces including four massive paintings by Peter Paul Rubens and an exact copy of Michelangelo’s statue of David, as well as other art from a variety of regions and eras.
Winston pointed out that Toledo Express and Allegiant have been steadily increasing their travel offerings.
“In December, we had 11 more flights than we had in December 2024. Because of the services with Allegiant and the support of the community, there were 1,800 more seats available last December than a year ago,” Winston said. He expects the new nonstop flights to Sarasota/Bradenton will continue to raise those numbers.
“At the beginning of May, we will have over 5,800 more available seats flying out of Toledo Express in the first five months of 2026 than we did in the first five months of 2025,” Winston said. And the increased numbers of travelers help the local job market in a variety of ways.
“There is certainly more of an indirect impact on jobs, like the ground handling services that
service these aircraft, more opportunities for our car rental agencies, more fuel going into
aircraft … there’s a ripple effect on getting this additional route,” Winston said.
Winston said it’s too early to know for sure, but the Jan. 10 announcement by Allegiant that it is
acquiring Sun Country Airlines will likely be a boost for Toledo travelers.
“The future combined company airline will have over 170 destinations that they fly to, particularly around the U.S. but also in Mexico and the Caribbean,” he said. “The bottom line is that with the changes in the industry, with consolidation taking place, we believe there is clearly a niche for Toledo Express,” he said, mostly for trips to vacation destinations like Florida and Arizona.
“The community has supported that for 20 years, and we know we can continue to support that,” Winston said.
