It just got a little easier to get to the west coast. Yesterday, Allegiant Airlines announced a new non-stop flight to Los Angeles beginning May 24th.

Allegiant Airlines will fly a 150-seat jet twice a week from Des Moines, on both Thursdays and Sundays, between the two cities.

Flights will depart Des Moines at 8:20 p.m. arriving in Los Angeles at 9:50 p.m. Flights leaving Los Angeles will depart at 2:25 p.m. and arrive in Des Moines at 7:40 p.m.

Regular one-way tickets will start at $119, but to kick things off, Allegiant is now offering a $99 introductory fare, which must be purchased by March 11 for travel completed by Sept. 30. The offer is not available May 22-25 and July 2-6.

Allegiant also provides nonstop service to Las Vegas and Orlando and Tampa, Florida.

This will bring the total non-stop flights out of Des Moines to 18 per the Des Moines International’s website.

With air traffic results in the news lately, I thought it would be a good time to look at what kind of delays there are at the Des Moines International Airport or DSM as well do some simple comparisons between DSM and OMA (Omaha’s airport) in both delay times and airfare costs.

Forbes Magazine recently took a look at the 100 largest airports in the United States in regards to the most time-draining spent in our airports and then ranked each airport in eight categories, plus an overall ranking with a ranking of one being the best and a ranking of 100 being the worst in time drain. I’ve pulled the results for both Des Moines International, but also Omaha’s airport, since we are always being compared to that airport and its airfare costs. Here’s where Des Moines International ranked in each category:

• Security Related Delays – 3rd (Omaha 34th)
• Late Aircraft Related Delays – 25th (Omaha 43rd)
• National Aviation System Related Delays – 33rd (Omaha 46th)
• Cancellation Related Delays – 48th (Omaha 46th)
• Carrier Related Delays – 36th (Omaha 51st)
• Weather Related Delays – 46th (Omaha 54th)
• Percentage of Flights Arrive on Time – 77th (Omaha 67th)
• Percentage of Flights Depart on Time – 75th (Omaha 65th)
• Overall Ranking – 41st (Omaha 55th)

I took four trip examples to see what results I could get. I also figured the following in for gas costs to get from Des Moines to Omaha: Miles 138; Gas Cost $3.38 per gallon, regular, today’s price in Des Moines; MPG: 30 average = $15.55 each way, $31.10 roundtrip. Price does not include parking costs, if any.

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