The only commercial airline to fly out of the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport has announced it will cease those flights in January.

In a statement, Krysta Levy of Allegiant media relations said the decision to end service out of the airport as of January 4 was made due to a low volume of passengers.

"Demand in the area was simply not high enough to continue service at this time. Any passengers that have booked travel in or out of Youngstown after that date will be reached out to individually to be refunded or re accommodated. Travellers can still fly with us at nearby airports with Allegiant service, including Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport and Pittsburgh International Airport," Levy said.

John Moliterno, executive director of the Western Reserve Port Authority, disputes Allegiant's claim of reduced ridership.

Moliterno tells 21 News they check the numbers regularly and ridership was not down and in fact, Youngstown was one of the busiest airports for Allegiant.

Moliterno said he has meetings set up with other airlines already to try to find another commercial service to operate out of the airport.

"We have to fill that void, so that's what we're going to do," Moliterno said.

Other airlines have come and gone from the local airport including Northwest and USAir.  A company called ADI offered service to Chicago in 2016 only to have that end after just two months.