ALLEGIANT AIR

'Allegiant Air' is an American low fare airline, owned by 'Allegiant Travel Co.' (), headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. The airline operates scheduled and charter flights from focus cities at Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport, Orlando Sanford International Airport, St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport, starting October 2007, Mesa's Williams Gateway Airport, and starting November 2007, from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. The airline also offers vacation packages through its Allegiant Vacations affiliate.
Allegiant Air targets small cities with limited passenger airline service. Some Allegiant destinations are secondary airports that are close to large metropolitan areas; others are small markets with little or no other airline service.

Contents

History

Allegiant Vacations

Destinations

Fleet

Incidents and accidents

Charter information

External links

References

History

Allegiant Air was founded in 1997 under the name 'WestJet Express'. After a trademark dispute with West Jet Air Center of Rapid City, South Dakota and with the name's similarity to WestJet Airlines of Calgary, Alberta, the airline adopted the name Allegiant Air and received its operating certificate for scheduled and charter domestic operations in 1998. The airline also has authority for charter service to Canada and Mexico. Wholly owned by Allegiant Travel, the airline has 432 employees.
Scheduled service began on October 15, 1999, between Las Vegas and the airline's initial hub in Fresno, California, with Douglas DC-9-21 and DC-9-51 aircraft. Shortly after the shut down of WinAir Airlines, Allegiant Air opened a hub in Long Beach, California, mirroring WinAir's network. The airline was unable to bring in enough revenue to cover its costs, and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on December 13, 2000.
In June 2001, Maurice J. Gallagher, Jr. joined the airline and soon became its President and Chief Executive Officer. Having formerly worked with WestAir and ValuJet Airlines, Gallagher led the airline's transformation into its present form, moving the base to Las Vegas and focusing on smaller markets that larger airlines did not serve. From 2001, they have grown from 2 destinations to over 50 from Las Vegas, Orlando/Sanford, Florida, and St Petersburg, Florida
On November 20, 2006, Allegiant Air announced that it had filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission in anticipation of a planned initial public offering of its Common Stock. The company plans to list its shares on the NASDAQ Stock Market under the ticker symbol "ALGT".
On July 31, 2007, the airline announced plans to open a fourth focus city from Williams Gateway Airport in Mesa, Arizona, connecting the Phoenix metropolitan area to 13 destinations already served by Allegiant, which are set to begin October 25, 2007. ^[1]
On August 1, 2007, Allegiant also announced plans to open their fifth focus city and make an operations base at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, connecting the South Florida area to destinations already served by Allegiant. The airline has stated the focus city will open November 14, 2007. ^[2]

Allegiant Vacations

Allegiant Vacations functions as an in house package vacation vendor. The company has arrangements with 34 hotel properties in Las Vegas and 21 in the Orlando and Daytona Beach, Florida areas. The vacations division also has partnerships with several rental car agencies and show-ticket Vendors.

Destinations

Main articles: Allegiant Air destinations

Allegiant Air currently flies to 55 destinations throughout the United States. Upcoming schedule changes will increase their destination count to 60 when the airline starts service to Huntsville, Alabama on September 21, Phoenix/Mesa, Arizona on October 25, Bangor, Maine on November 1, Fort Lauderdale, Florida on November 14, and Plattsburgh, New York on November 16, 2007. All bookings begin or end at one of the five focus cities/operational bases, therefore, travel reservations between any of the other cities must be reserved through separate bookings and checked luggage be claimed and re-checked in one of the five focus cities.
'Note:' The airline will add Phoenix/Mesa, Arizona as a focus city/operational base on October 25, 2007, and Fort Lauderdale, Florida as a focus city/operational base on November 14, 2007.

Fleet

As of September 2007, Allegiant Air has 30 aircraft in its fleet consisting of:^[3]

'Allegiant Air Fleet'

Aircraft	Total	Passengers (Economy)	Routes
McDonnell Douglas MD-81	5	150	All
McDonnell Douglas MD-82	5	150	All
McDonnell Douglas MD-83	17	150	All
McDonnell Douglas MD-87	3	130	Mainly St.Pete/Clearwater routes

As of September 2007, the average age of the Allegiant Air fleet was 17.2 years.^[4]

Incidents and accidents

On March 29, 2007, Allegiant Air Flight 758, a McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft which took off from Pease International Airport in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, experienced a hydraulic failure which prevented the front landing gear from deploying. As a result, the aircraft circled in a holding pattern for over half an hour to lighten the fuel load, and then made an emergency landing at Orlando Sanford International Airport. Upon landing, some sparks and smoke were observed under the nose of the aircraft. The passengers and crew members evacuated via emergency evacuation slides. Only one injury was reported; a woman suffered a minor ankle injury during the evacuation, but she refused treatment. The airport was closed for some time due to the emergency.^[5][6]

Charter information

Allegiant currently has two contracts for track programs with Harrah's Entertainment. Two aircraft are provided, one based in Reno, Nevada and the other in Laughlin, Nevada, bringing customers from cities across the United States to the Harrah's Nevada casinos. Allegiant markets its charter services to a variety of customers in need of on demand charter services, such as university athletic teams, corporations, and governments.

External links

★ Allegiant Air

References

1.
2. Allegiant Air plans mini-hub at Lauderdale airport Ina Paiva Cordle
3. Allegiant Air Fleet Detail
4. Allegiant Air Fleet Age
5. Jet With 147 Passengers On Board Makes Emergency Landing
6. Allegiant Jet Moved After Emergency Landing


★ Allegiant Air: Finding a Niche in Las Vegas and Orlando John Franklin