Allegiant Air plans to hire nearly 200 pilots amid travel increase

Allegiant Air is set to hire almost 200 pilots as air traffic continues to increase following historic declines amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Las Vegas based low-fare carrier announced Tuesday that it plans to hire 184 pilots, which would represent nearly a 19 percent increase over the approximately 1,000 pilots already employed by Allegiant.

The company’s hiring plan was attributed to its growth strategy tied to meeting increasing travel demand.

“These new pilots will be a welcome addition to our current roster of exceptional flight crew members,” Tracy Tulle, Allegiant’s senior vice president of flight crew operations, said in a statement. “Their hiring really marks an exciting part of our five-year growth plan, which includes onboarding new pilots and flight attendants, as well as adding aircraft to our fleet, and new bases, cities and routes to our network.”

The first group of new pilots will begin training in July, with classes scheduled to run periodically through early 2022.

Last year, Allegiant laid off 87 employees and eliminated 220 positions as it saw passenger counts plummet. The company employs more than 4,000.

Air passenger volume across the country has been steadily increasing as states relax coronavirus-related restrictions and more people are vaccinated.

Last weekend was the busiest at U.S. airports since before the pandemic began, with 6.5 million people passing through Transportation Security Administration checkpoints between Friday and Monday, the agency’s data revealed. That’s up 87 percent over the same four-day period last year when 831,484 passengers were screened, but still lags 2019’s tally of 9.5 million travelers by 32 percent.

Allegiant operates flights on more than 580 routes to 129 cities, with aircraft assigned to one of the airline’s 20 bases across the U.S. where crew members live and work.

“Because our flights are point-to-point, with no layovers or connecting flights, our crew members end most work days back at their home base,” Geir Bjoran, Allegiant’s chief pilot said in a statement.

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.