PROVO — Allegiant Air is cashing in on the Mormon market in Arizona and California with passengers flying in to the Provo Airport. 

“During General Conference we saw a strong demand, with flights completely full,” said Lindsay Hernquist, public relations officer for Allegiant, referring to the annual April conference put on by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at its Salt Lake City headquarters.

Those customers are flying in from Mesa, Ariz., Los Angeles and Oakland, Calif., and they are continually moving back and forth, with flights seeing greater than 90 percent capacity.

Hernquist said each flight has a capacity of 166 passengers and some of them flying during the first weekend of April were completely sold out. One plane had two seats left.  The goal is for each flight to be 90 percent full, and Hernquist said flights are surpassing that every single time.

“Overall the flights in and out of Provo are really strong,” she said. “We knew what was happening (conference) and checked in to it.”

As Allegiant looked at the numbers, the airline could see the conference spike in ridership and requests. Allegiant will keep an eye out this summer as the Freedom Festival, Education Week, the beginning of school and ballgames start lining up. Word is getting out that Provo is a destination airport with great amenities and convenience.

“The airport is symbolic of all our services,” Mayor John Curtis said. “Residents haven’t flown out of Provo, but are proud to brag.”

Curtis said that while Allegiant has been a great addition to the airport, the decision by Frontier Airlines in 2012 to stop servicing Provo was a great loss. Many passengers are desirous to see an eastern connection out of Provo, and Denver — a Frontier hub — was a good point to match up with other airports. City officials would like to see a replacement airline for that loss.

Allegiant is also considered a travel and tourism airline rather than a business-focused airline.

“You see a lot of families at the Provo terminal,” Curtis said.

As far as bringing other carriers to Provo, Curtis said, “We’re in constant contact with several other airlines.”

With more future flights and airlines being considered at the airport, the need for a new terminal with multiple gates is being explored. There can’t be much more growth at the airport without a new terminal.  On Fridays there are three commercial flights in and out, and the airport as currently constructed can’t handle much more than that any given day.

“Right now we’re looking at funding options,” Curtis said. “We are looking at assistance from the federal government. The city could bond, but it’s not the right time.”

Curtis said city officials are waiting for the amount of fights to increase and for government help before moving forward. However, one step in the airport’s upgrade will come in 2015 when it will close for a couple of months while the runways are repaired and improved.

Flights to and from Mesa are currently scheduled on Thursday, Friday, Sunday and Monday. Los Angeles flights are Thursday and Sunday. Oakland flights are Monday and Friday, and will likely see more business as San Francisco’s international airport will have runways shut down for repairs this year.

Allegiant is learning fast where the LDS population lives and the interests in where they like to vacation. The airline is currently ramping up its Los Angeles schedule for this summer as local residents flock to Disneyland. Allegiant also noticed a swell in ticket sales during the recent spring break.