Allegiant Air made this announcement:

State and local officials joined executives from Allegiant Travel Company today as the company announced plans to establish a two-aircraft base at Lehigh Valley International Airport (ABE) in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. Allegiant’s growth plans in the state include creating at least 66 new, high-wage jobs.

The Las Vegas-based company is investing $50 million to establish its new base of operations, which will house two Airbus aircraft. The company, which focuses on linking travelers in small-to-medium cities to world-class leisure destinations, plans to begin its base operations at Lehigh Valley International Airport on February 12, 2020. Lehigh Valleywill become the airline’s 18^th aircraft base.

The Lehigh Valley is a two-county region in eastern Pennsylvania consisting of 62 municipalities and three cities; Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton. Located one hour north of Philadelphia and 90 minutes west of New York City, the Lehigh Valley is the 69th largest metropolitan region in the United States, with a $40.1 billion GDP that is larger than that of two entire states, Wyoming and Vermont. With more than 15,000 businesses contributing to an incredibly diverse industry base, Lehigh Valley is the fastest growing and third most populous region in the state of Pennsylvania, with a population of more than 670,000 residents. Site Selection named the Lehigh Valley one of the top five fastest-growing regions with under a million people in the United States in 2018, and the fastest-growing region of its size in the Northeast U.S. for a third consecutive year.

Allegiant began operating at ABE in 2005 and currently offers seven nonstop routes – to Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood, Sanford, St. Petersburg-Clearwater and Punta Gorda, Florida; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee and Savannah, Georgia.  Allegiant currently carries more than 280,000 annual passengers through Lehigh Valley.

Current routes from ABE:

New routes announced: