History of Allegiant Air

Founded back in 1997 as WestJet Express in Enterprise, Nevada, Allegiant Air got its name and operating certificate in 1998, after a trademark dispute with West Jet Air Center of Rapid City, South Dakota.

Scheduled service began in October, 1999, connecting Las Vegas and Fresno, California with Douglas DC-9-21 and DC-9-51 aircraft.

On the 13th of December, 2000, Allegiant Air filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The new management team did a good job, and the airline managed to grow from 2 destinations to over 50.

From mid-2007 to late 2008, the airline continued expanding and started serving new routes.

In March 2010, Allegiant Air announced it signed a forward purchase agreement to acquire six Boeing 757-200 aircraft that enabled the airline to expand its leisure travel strategy into Hawaii with flights beginning in summer 2012.

In October 2010, Allegiant Air unveiled a brand refresh that included a new tag line, “Travel is our deal” and a refreshed logo with a more prominent sun design and softer lines.

In August 2012, Allegiant Air entered a lease agreement to lease nine Airbus A319 aircraft, and in December 2012, announced its intention to acquire nine Airbus A320 aircraft.

In 2013, Allegiant Air acquired 9 Airbus A320-200 aircraft from Iberia and another A319 aircraft previously operated by easyJet that were used for growth into new markets, including destinations in the Rocky Mountains and Mexico, as well as airfields such as Trenton, New Jersey and Charlottesville and Shenandoah Valley in Virginia.

In 2014, Allegiant Air celebrated 15 years of low-cost leisure travel, a journey from just one plane flying from Fresno to Las Vegas to a fleet of 68 aircraft, flying over 7 million passengers and serving 99 US cities, more than any other domestic low-cost airline.

Since 2015, although the airline prefers to use smaller/secondary airports, Allegiant Air has been growing at major airports, such as Cincinnati, Memphis, Raleigh/Durham, Indianapolis, and San Antonio.

In December 2016, Allegiant launched its first flights to San Juan, Puerto Rico from three major cities, Cincinnati (CVG), Orlando (SFB), and Pittsburgh (PIT). This is the airline’s first scheduled service to the Caribbean.

In 2017, Allegiant Air took delivery of ten brand-new A320 with fuel-efficient sharklets. Also, in October, the final Boeing B757 was retired from service.
In November 2018, the last McDonnell Douglas MD 80 was retired. With a newer all-Airbus fleet, Allegiant was thus able to benefit from lower fuel and maintenance costs and to operate in some airports which could not be served by the MD-80s.

In 2019, Allegiant announced the addition of three new bases, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Savannah, Georgia, Nashville, Tennessee, and Des Moines, Iowa. The Des Moines base is Allegiant Air’s 20th base, but its opening was delayed for more than a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is the first to open since the onset of the pandemic.

In 2020, confronting the COVID-19 pandemic, Allegiant Air focused on ensuring the health and safety of its employees and passengers by enhancing cleaning procedures, adding health precautions, and employing social distancing, launching the Going the Distance for Health and Safety initiative as a resource to customers. After 17 consecutive profitable years, Allegiant Air’s revenue plunged 46.2 percent to $990.1 million in the most challenging year the industry has faced in its history.

In 2021, Allegiant Air is moving towards recovery with an expansionary vision. In the first half of the air, the airline announced service on 100 new nonstop routes, as well as the opening of two new bases, Appleton, Wisconsin, and Flint, Michigan, in the first quarter of 2022. To support the airline’s growth trajectory, Allegiant Air also secured leases for 10 Airbus A320 aircraft for induction through 2022.

Despite the average age of the aircraft operating in Allegiant Air’s fleet (approximately 15 years), there have been no fatal incidents recorded so far.