Air Fair: Nonstop Nashville Flights Celebrated In Roanoke

By Travel Destination 22 Apr, 2022 Post a Comment

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A plane jetted directly to Nashville from Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport in a first-of-its-kind flight Thursday.

With that, Allegiant Air began nonstop travel between Roanoke and Nashville, the first new air service out of Roanoke in years.

The maiden outbound flight lifted off from the airport at 10:48 a.m. carrying a Roanoke dog breeder and a puppy she sold to a Nashville woman, two Blacksburg-trained doctors planning a Nashville graduation celebration and a Southwest Virginia man visiting his mom for her birthday. Also on board were several Roanoke Valley women going to a bachelorette party and more than 100 others who will spend the weekend in or near the Music City.

The flight was due to land at 10:49 a.m. Nashville time, where the time runs an hour earlier, meaning travelers spent about an hour in the air.

“It’s a lot better than seven or eight hours in a car,” said Mike Mancuso, area general manager for Signature Flight Support, which handles Allegiant’s ground operations.

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Tourism and aviation leaders threw a party for ticketholders with live music, cake and T-shirts. With country tunes playing at Gate 6, passengers arriving from Nashville became the first featured guests of the celebration as they came out of the jetway. There were 42 of them.

Then attention turned to the 118 outbound travelers, most from the Roanoke area, who were keeping alert for the boarding announcement.

Few wore masks, the mask mandate for airports having been dropped earlier in the week.

Airport Executive Director Mike Stewart, who took the helm of the Roanoke facility last year, addressed the crowd using the microphone of the band, Woody Woodworth and The Piners.

Stewart, the former top executive at Dulles International Airport, said he didn’t have anything to do with landing the new service, though he is from middle Tennessee.

“It was Allegient’s decision,” he said later.

A ribbon was cut. The shirts were passed out.

Passenger Autumn Clifton of Troutville said she and her friends would have driven to Nashville “for the hometown honky-tonk down there.” But they spotted the direct flight deal on Facebook and ended up paying about $180 to $200 per ticket with baggage fees, she said.

The bachelorette party in Nashville is for her engaged sister Afton Clifton of Roanoke County.

“A hundred and eighty to 200 bucks to fly to Nashville, sign me up,” Afton Clifton said.

The crowd going to Nashville also included Brandon Barbery of Roanoke and Calvin Tran of Maryland, students at the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine in Blacksburg.

“This is our last weekend as medical students before graduating as doctors,” Tran said. After graduation, which they will celebrate there, Barbery plans to practice medicine at the Eisenhower Army Medical center in Georgia. Tran plans to practice at the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth.

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Elsewhere, dog breeder Ali Bradley stood cuddling an 8-week-old brown cavapoo, a fluffy dog that combines a poodle and a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. In Nashville, she planned to hand off the pet to its new owner at baggage claim and spend the weekend with her parents before returning Sunday. She paid $178 round trip, which included a $50 fee for the dog.

“This is great for me that it’s a direct flight and it’s cheap,” she said.

Great for the dog, too, which was hunkered down within one of the free shirts.

“It’s loud for her,” Bradley said.

Allegiant said it planned to operate the service through mid-August. For now, one flight operates in each direction on Thursdays and Sundays.

Photos: See Allegiant's first direct flights to Nashville from Roanoke Blacksburg Regional Airport

Alexandria Bradley, left, a dog breeder in Roanoke, prepares to deliver to a customer Roo, a Cavapoo, on the first direct flight to Nashville, Tennessee, at Gate 6 of Roanoke Blacksburg Regional Airport Thursday, April 21, 2022, in Roanoke.