Allegiant Air reported a first-quarter profit of $28.3 million, nearly three times the $9.7 million earned in the year-ago period. "We held our own in a challenging revenue environment, more than offsetting fare weakness with increased load factors," CFO and MD-Planning Andrew Levy said. "At the right price we continue to find strong demand for our product."
Allegiant executives cited growing passenger traffic, and a boost in fees charged for such things as checking extra baggage as the reason for the increase. Low-cost carrier Allegiant has other innovations that are appealing to passengers as well. All travel is ticketless, all fares are one-way and a Saturday night stay is never required. With a focus on leisure travel, Allegiant emphasizes low-fares, nonstop flights, innovative vacation packages and leisure traffic from smaller cities to world-class destinations such as Las Vegas and Orlando.
Allegiant operated 41 MD-80s as of March 31 and has acquired an additional five of the type that have not yet been placed in service. While Allegiant did not provide specific revenue and earnings guidance for the remainder of 2009, Levy predicted an "exceptional" performance "should fuel prices remain at current levels."
