Allegiant Air

Allegiant Air is an economy class, low-cost carrier that serves the domestic air travel needs of the US citizens at cheap rates. The airline headquarters is located in the neighborhood of Las Vegas in the state of Nevada with the name of Allegiant Travel Co. and is headed by Chairman and CEO Maurice J. Gallagher Jr. Founded in 1998, the company has since then expanded to over 1,800 employee organization and has grown as a major competitor for its counterparts. Formerly working on a conventional airlines business model, its CEO, Gallagher revamped the business strategy by targeting the affordability of small business market.

Allegiant Air connects small cities to big vacation spots which includes but not limited to Las Vegas, Florida and San Francisco. One reason for using small city airports is that it has low airport landing charges. To cut the costs and be more profitable, it only flies few days a week when most passengers fly. That is why, most Allegiant flights are 90% full. Moreover, its economical business model includes various packages with promising saving deals for its customers. As a support to its cutting-cost strategy, it does not employ any traveling agencies and does not provide customer support facility online or through Call Center.

In June 2001, the airline's was transformed, moving the base to Las Vegas and focusing on smaller markets that larger airlines did not serve with mainline aircraft. Since then, they have grown from 2 destinations to over 50 from Las Vegas, Orlando/Sanford, Florida, and St Petersburg, Florida. The company was first listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market under the ticker symbol "ALGT" in 2006. The company has continuously expanded in terms of fleet, destinations and hubs.

Along with Southwest Airlines, the airline was the only major United States airline to make a profit in the first quarter of the oil-driven economic crisis of 2008.

Main route

Allegiant currently flies to 75 destinations throughout the United States. Its focus cities are: Bellingham International Airport, Charlotte County Airport (Punta Gorda), Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, McCarran International Airport (Las Vegas), Myrtle Beach International Airport, Orlando Sanford International Airport, Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport and St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport.

Fleet

Allegiant Air's fleet includes a range of all-jet carriers counting to a total of 84 aircrafts that are currently active and operational. Seeing its growing customers, the airline has placed orders for 23 aircrafts 19 of which are for Airbus A319-100 and 4 for Airbus A320-200. Airbus A319-100 can carry up to 156 passengers while Airbus A320-200 has a capacity of 177 passengers.

Other members of its fleet include Boeing 757-200 that can accommodate 215 passengers, McDonnell Douglas MD-83 and McDonnell Douglas MD-88, both with a passenger capacity of 166 passengers. Almost all of these aircrafts are bought from other low-cost airlines. Currently, Allegiant has six active Boeing 757-200 aircrafts purchased from Thomson Airways. All of these six planes will be decommissioned from its fleet in 2017.