For the past ten years we have enjoyed the convenience of direct flights to Las Vegas from our little home-town airport. Parking was cheap and convenient, and the fares were cheap. We could stop at the terminal to check in, go to supper in town, and come back in time to get on the plane.

All that ended a couple of weeks ago when Allegiant announced that October 2012 will be their last month flying out of Loveland. This was a total surprise to the city and airport officials: all the airline would tell them was it's due to an internal business decision, no chance for the city to remedy any problems.

The rumors started flying, and then a few days ago the president of the company told a Las Vegas newspaper the reason was safety: there is no tower at this small airport. Never mind they just added service to another Colorado airport that doesn't have a tower, and there are several other non-tower airports all over the country that they fly to.

Along comes the flight attendants union and says 'if it's so unsafe, how come they are risking our lives by continuing the service through the end of October; why aren't they stopping it immediately?' Well, of course, the tower isn't the issue - there have never been any safety issues at that airport. I love hearing about this coming up because it might force Allegiant management to be more forthcoming, not that it's going to put things back the way they were.