How do you describe a brand new airport terminal at an airport that has never had commercial flights before? Maybe a smell?

I am reminded of one of my favorite shows, W1A from the BBC:
"Write down one word that...The first thing that comes into your mind when you hear the word "BBC".

"Can I just say, I'm not being funny or anything, Can you have smells?"
"Smells?"

"No, sure."

"Like the smell of the building when you come in in the morning."

"Is it the smell of success, Tracey?"

'No, it's not that, Simon."

"It's more like some sort of detergent or something."

Well in this case, I'm going to say carpet glue. The smell of carpet glue.


Back in November of 2024, reading the daily airline schedule update summary I get in my email, I saw an airport I didn’t recognize. Well, the airport existed, but didn’t have any airline service. Or a terminal. I wasn’t entirely sure where it was, but with a name like “Gulf Shores, Alabama” there’s a fairly limited area where it could be. This gulf-side town, roughly halfway between Mobile and Pensacola, had the benefit of an airport with two runways (one being 7000 feet in length) that was gifted to the state by the US Navy in the late 70s, renamed Jack Edwards Airport, and later sold to the city of Gulf Shores (airport code is one of those funny ones…. IATA is GUF but ICAO is JKA). Apparently they decided they wanted airline service so announced that Allegiant would begin service from about a half dozen cities, in the twice a week from each pattern they do best, in May of 2025 on a Wednesday. The first flight would be from Knoxville, TN with a midday turn. Of course the next day I bought a ticket on this flight, in seat 1A, then figured I would plan the rest at some point.A lot of planning would need to be done because as of that moment, there was a concrete pad partially poured and a sign in the dirt where a terminal would supposedly be completed by this date in May. I gleaned this much from the local news website and Mobile TV news. I figured at some point there would be a rental car to be had (until then, I reserved from Hertz at the FBO that looked like it would be nearby where the terminal should be, but in reality wasn’t). Then, a few weeks later, Allegiant notified me the schedule changed and the flight from TYS would sit for 4 hours in Alabama before returning to TYS. Probably to do some training, let dignitaries speak, cut a ribbon with stupidly large sized scissors, and let every local civic leader with a hard plastic nametag don a sport coat to have something on their calendar that week. Seriously, I’ve done a lot of inaugural flights and it’s always interesting who turns out…. As I found myself in Norfolk, VA once talking to some Director from the Botanical Gardens (lovely place, I’m sure) whose presence and observation was vital to JetBlue being able to board it’s first airplane from the airport.

Getting from where I live northeast of Charlotte to TYS and back was another expedition as until a month in advance, there was no Alaska award availability on American (and even then only First Class) and cash fares were upward of $900 round trip. The most affordable means was to drive the wrong way to Greensboro, fly through Charlotte, and take something like 6 hours en route to get to TYS. And fly back the same way or go via ATL. I booked it all for a reasonable $225-ish each way using some of the bag of credits I have. Oh, and up until this point, I-40 between NC and TN was sort of washed away so driving wasn’t looking fun. But flying AA through CLT is an adventure, and I wouldn’t want my connection to go awry, me get delayed in CLT for hours on end, and just cancel and go home then have AA accuse me of skiplagging and lock my future PNRs (again…).

A week prior, mileage tickets were available but not great times and an overnight in TYS would be required. Oh, and I-40 reopened in March apparently. So, I called my father (who lives about 35 miles from me) and I said “What are you doing next Wednesday morning at 430am? How about driving with me to Knoxville and flying to Alabama for a few hours? Yes, Allegiant.” He said oh why not, and $100 later, a round trip was purchased for him on the same Allegiant flights, I canceled my positioning flights, and saw that Gulf Shores had spawned an Enterprise/Alamo branch that would take my corporate discount. Yeah, $35 for a car to go grab lunch will be fine.

Thus sometime around 5am, set out on the 250 mile / 5 hour drive. Went down I-85 through Charlotte, across the good road to I-26 near the AVL airport, and then up to I-40 that way. I must say it’s quite an impressive sight to see 1.) what massive sections of interstate in the mountains/along the Pigeon River washed away from Hurricane Helene and 2.) all of the work done thus far shoring it up to be just 1 lane in each direction, limited to 35 mph for a 12-mile stretch. We made good time and arrived to the TYS airport just about 10am, well in advance of the 1240pm departure. Parking at TYS is an adventure as the garage was filled with pick-up trucks way too large for the space, parked on either side to the point where it was a little tricky maneuvering through some rows, and thought there were no open spaces until finding one finally on the far edge of the roof.

PreCheck line had several minutes of no movement even being the 3rd and 4th in line as someone at the TDC podium needed a Supervisor (and was holding a Real ID flier) and the officer wouldn’t let anybody else up until that was resolved. Then two people without PreCheck in front, one of whom was explaining to the other that it’s fine if you don’t have PreCheck, they’ll just let you go at the front of the regular line. And they got their way, which is annoying. I didn’t need to look which gate was ours once through as I looked to the left past Ruby Tuesday and saw the first gate on the right had balloons and an inflatable palm tree sticking into the circulation space. Oh yes, this is TYS who has plenty of air service marketing money. Some airport maintenance types were rolling up a podium and setting up some tables just outside the gate. Coming into view, could see a whole display set up with “TYS GUF” letters, plenty of balloons, and someone else wheeling up a flat cart with five gallon buckets filled with bags of sand. Aircraft was already there – as TYS is a base for Allegiant, and Tues/Wed are usually light days in the schedule, several spares (did see later on at least 2 more A320s parked on a remote pad, in addition to 2 others that arrived to gates about the time we were ready to depart).








Fairly soon, several others presumably from the marketing team arrived and began setting things up. Bottled water, two types of custom cookies, and some baggage tags and other trinkets were set out for passengers. Some sort of game with prizes involved the sand, a small kiddie pool full of the sand, and sea shells. Members of the flight crew arrived at different points (starting their day – all were Knoxville based) and took pictures with the various elements as did many passengers. About 90 minutes to departure, the airport authority’s VP of Air Service and some marketing folks gave short speeches as did someone from the Gulf Shores visitor bureau or equivalent (tourism is 80% of the area’s industry so this new airline service is vital). One member of each traveling party was invited to come up and pull out a sea shell from the sand in the pool to pick a prize – either reusable TYS branded bags, beach balls, a few other marketing giveaways, and one grand prize of a $500 Allegiant travel voucher. I got a reusable bag, which is always handy.







Just under an hour to departure, boarding began with Priority Boarding which is those who have the Allegiant credit card (which for a $60 annual fee comes with priority boarding/check-in line and a free drink including alcohol on each flight, which pretty much pays for itself in two round trips, which isn’t bad when you think about the $200-300 worth of points that are on the sign-up offers – probably explains why Allegiant has the highest take rate of any co-branded airline credit card in the US). We boarded and took our seats in the first row, either side window. Tons of legroom. This A320 had a fixed bulkhead in front of 1ABC which was different than the advance seatmap – some aircraft don’t have a wall and you face the flight attendants. The flight attendants had the overhead bins over the first two rows closed to protect them for bulkhead inhabitants. I put away my bag and one F/A closed it after me. She turned to my father and offered to place his bag overhead. The crew was friendly and chatty during boarding, directing people to seats, helping with bags, helping families who had small children, etc. I’ve found Allegiant crews to be on average in a far better mood than those on most airlines and far more helpful. I say that having flown Allegiant probably 40-50 times. Martina (the lead) and this TYS crew were fantastic. Allegiant crews are home nearly every single night, interact with the same set of airport agents and pilots daily, often fly together with the same people week after week (as some bases are relatively small), and I’ve noticed with the 2-3 time a week frequency on most routes, they often see the same passengers going and coming to book-end a long weekend or a week away.




Passenger load was about 130 out of 170 and we pushed back nearly ten minutes early. The middle seat in each side of row 1 was empty which was nice. Given Allegiant doesn’t sell connections and has fairly strict check-in times for those who need to check a bag (at many small airports, the TSA staff is shared between screening checked bags and screening passengers so checkpoint can’t really get going full speed until the first part is mostly done), often flights depart early with everybody on board. We had an announced flight time of about an hour and ten minutes with detailed route of flight given by the Captain that included proceeding south across Atlanta, over to Montgomery, then straight south to the coast. We had a water cannon salute from the airport fire department as we departed the ramp and taxied straight out for departure.





Inflight service began fairly quickly once on the air. All Allegiant flights have 4 flight attendants and they start with one cart from the front and one from the back, working to the middle. They register sales on an iPad. Inflight service I’ve noticed is very consistent and I don’t think I’ve ever been on a flight that didn’t have service except perhaps one under an hour where it really was too turbulent (AA would probably have had us in the brace position on that one and the wonderful AA crew wouldn’t have done pre-departure beverages out of abundance of caution that someone might have to go pee). None of this “flight is too short” or “it’s a little bumpy so no service.” There were probably 20 credit card holders on board so you know at least each of those people is using it to get their free drink. I had a Fresca and a chips and cheese (which is less expensive and twice the size as the new one AA is now offering in coach on flights over like 3.5 hours). Quick flight, one very straight forward credit card pitch that was over in about 30 seconds, and we were soon over southern Alabama in our descent.




Landed to the west in light rain. Taxi to the parking position was initially slow as narrow taxiways and of course the crew’s first time there. As we entered the ramp, we again received water cannon salute and that’s when I could see probably a full THOUSAND people waiting to receive the flight, under a large tent set up on the ramp, all along the walkway from the parking spot to the terminal, at the fence, etc. People were holding signs, cheering, etc. No jetways here, just a moveable ramp which was quickly positioned. The door was opened by someone from the ground handling company with “Vice President” on their safety vest. We deplaned to cheers, applause, lots of people filming and taking photos. I’ve been on a lot of flights and a lot of inaugurals and not sure I’ve ever seen anything quite like this! Great to see people supporting new service. Advance bookings apparently well into the 80% range for the first half dozen destinations started the first week so on day one, Allegiant announced Appleton and Des Moines to Gulf Shores starting in a few months.






It looks like there are 2-3 parking positions perpendicular to the new terminal with a covered walkway extending out along the front of them. We walked down the walkway and to the terminal entrance which places you in baggage claim. The building smelled new – that smell of carpet glue I think mixed with fresh paint. Nicely done terminal for looking like a huge metal shed from the outside. Baggage claim was not so much a carousel but a long roller strip which should be sufficient and is a low cost way of doing things when the building is supposedly temporary. Lots and lots of people to greet inside with cold waters and local Gulf Shores swag to hand out such as hats, stickers, USB drives, etc. In the departure/check-in side of things, catering was set up with free drinks and some meat on skewers, chips and dip, etc.




















I went to the Enterprise/Alamo counter where I was welcomed as the very first customer at the branch! They had my info already as a National Executive and keys/folio ready (which is odd for Enterprise in my experience). Fairly quick check out and was headed outside to find the car so we could have a quick drive around and grab some lunch. I was quite pleased to get outside and see that my $35 plus tax yielded a fairly low mileage Audi A5. That’ll do quite nicely. Also saw on the outside of the terminal a nice area with beach-type chairs to wait and an area that seemed purpose-made for a food truck to park (which there was one sitting there so I guess that helps). We were amazed driving out of the airport the number of cars parked everywhere in overflow lots, temporary lots, all along the road even a half mile away from people attending this first flight. From the media, it appears after we left there was a ribbon cutting ceremony, more speeches, etc.











Drove around the seaside town of Gulf Shores which is better maintained than most, but of course with all the usual beach town souvenir shops and restaurants and such. We were struck by the prevalence of signs, even on the message signs of some condo complexes, welcoming Allegiant to town. We probably saw this 5 or 6 places. We ended up eating at a restaurant called the Oyster House which per a sign in the terminal gave 10% off with Allegiant boarding pass. Nice shrimp lunch on the intracoastal. The city seems to have a well funded tax base judging by impressive municipal facilities for its size. We went to the city museum which was mostly about the shrimping industry and then tourism and hurricanes. Oddly though they were very big on a prohibition on photographs of any sort or cell phone usage inside. Must be a story there. We explored around to the Orange Beach side of things which seemed newer and slightly more upscale with some new developments, a new causeway going in from the airport more direct to that side of the shore, and inland a few miles where a lot of what looked like brand new shopping like Publix, Target, and such, was open. We got back to the airport about an hour before departure and I walked over to arrivals to hand over the keys.












The terminal was mostly cleaned up from the hoopla of just a couple hours prior. As we were approaching the TSA ID check, I heard my name being shouted from behind me and turned to be greeted by the Enterprise regional director who shook my hand and thanked me for being the first renter and first person to return a car at their new branch. He thanked me for my National status, and we chatted for a few minutes about the new terminal, rental experiences, status, etc. Sounds like under his watch National elites will be treated well.

No wait at TSA and through to the secure side. There is an area immediately after TSA with some seats both in traditional hold room seats and some sofas then the larger gate area with restrooms, vending machines, and a mix of regular seating and high counter around the wall with electrical outlets. The gate area is set up with two boarding doors (Gates 1 and 2) leading to the same walkway. Restrooms were full sized which is nice as most airports of this size tend to just have a single shot (and if you’re lucky one for males and one for females) inside security. The terminal has lots of lighting that isn’t standard overhead fluorescent office-style lighting so that is much nicer. Also plenty of artwork both professional (that you could of course find artist information to buy if you wanted) and from local schools.










Only 36 passengers returning to Knoxville, which is about what you’d expect on day one outbound from a vacation destination. Allegiant trainers were on hand as well as an observer from corporate security to help the ground handling agents. We boarded fairly quickly and were in the exit row this time – only ones in the exit row. Had a nice chat with the flight attendant stationed there during boarding. I noticed how one flight attendant especially with seat map and manifest on iPad was walking up and down the aircraft greeting passengers and he would escort them back to show where their seats are. Again, I’ve seen this on Allegiant before, and I think given the clientele is far skewed toward leisure travelers is a nice touch. We pushed back at least ten minutes early and were on our way. Similar flight time announced as on the way down. That lightly loaded A320 was off the ground in no time. It was a take off where you could tell the pilots were using the opportunity to get their moneys worth from the aircraft’s performance (standing on the brakes like a shorter field).







Same inflight service as the way down, always thanked by the crew for being a credit card holder (they’re very consistent on that always). Landed about 20 minutes early back into Knoxville and were in the gate very shortly after. Quick exit from the airport as obviously no checked bags. It was about 730pm and only a couple of flights left for the night with American so most of the terminal was shut down.



I picked out the best of the Hampton Inns on the way home based on reviews and settled on one in Dandridge, TN, which put us a good 45-50 minutes out of Knoxville to the east. Small town, standard Hampton with newish renovations and recognition of Diamond status with 4 bottles of water and two snacks given to us (and Diamond parking as actually open which is a rarity), dinner from Firehouse Subs nearby, a quick drive down to the reservoir/lake by downtown, and a fairly early bedtime. Started out about 6am back toward Charlotte and GPS routed us away from the I-40 construction area and through a very scenic path on US25/70 through Newport, Hot Springs, Hurricane, and back to I-40 at Asheville.



Enjoyable trip and probably one of the more enthusiastic inaugurals in community support that I’ve seen. Allegiant delivers as usual with friendly crews and consistent service. I hope this service at Gulf Shores succeeds. The region seems to have more than its share of commercial service airports but I think this one is just off the main path enough to work.