Frontier Airlines makes last flight out of Columbia Regional Airport

The last Frontier Airlines flight from Columbia Regional Airport to Orlando took off Monday morning and city officials say they are not close to landing a new airline.

The final Frontier take-off departed at 10:10 a.m. Ticket prices for the flight were as low as $25 Sunday night.

Frontier has been flying their Airbus 319 from Columbia Regional Airport to Orlando since last November, but according to the airline, bookings did not meet criteria for new markets.

City leaders are talking with several airlines at least once a month. City Manager Mike Matthes told ABC 17 News one of those airlines is Allegiant Airlines.

The airline flies to leisure cities like Phoenix, Orlando and Las Vegas.

“Eight of 15 are in our top 50, so you see those, you think well there might be a beginning of a beautiful friendship,” said Matthes.

Matthes would not say if the airline and city are close to a deal but did say there is a mutual interest.

He said airlines seem to be waiting on numbers from Columbia and want to see years’ worth of flight numbers before they take a risk.

“At this point, my greatest hope is actually with growing the service we have with American [Airlines] in Chicago and Dallas, so that’s a focus,” Matthes said.

He told ABC 17 News there could be an announcement within the next few months.