Allegiant fleet will shrink, but become more efficient in ‘25
Allegiant Air will have three fewer jets in its fleet by the end of the year as the company continues its transition to Boeing 737 aircraft, company officials said Tuesday.
Las Vegas-based Allegiant will have 13 of the 190-seat twin-engine Boeing MAX jets by the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, up from the four it currently operates. With the retirement of several Airbus jets during the year, the Allegiant fleet, serving 124 cities on 588 routes nationwide, will have a total 122 planes, down from the 125 it currently operates.
The airline is expected to retire three 180-186 Airbus A320s, five 177-seat A320s and four 156-seat Airbus 319 jets over the next year.
Despite having fewer planes, Allegiant expects to expand during the year by using its more fuel-efficient planes more frequently and expanding capacity by replacing planes with fewer seats.
“Capacity growth in 2025 will be achieved by higher aircraft utilization, particularly during peak leisure demand periods,” Allegiant CEO Gregory Anderson said during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call with investors.
“We plan to take delivery of nine MAX aircraft throughout the year, all of which have much greater earnings potential than the older A320 aircraft they will replace,” he said. Furthermore, we continue expanding our premium seating product with 56 aircraft currently fitted with Allegiant Extra, which is enhancing ancillary revenue per passenger. Collectively, these improvements are expected to result in a full-year, airline-only earnings per share, excluding special charges, of $9, an expected increase of over 50 percent compared to 2024.”
The company also told investors it plans to sell a majority of its stake in its year-old Sunseeker Resort Charlotte Harbor in Florida and already is fielding potential offers in a competitive process.
Sunseeker, opened in December 2023, has been beset with numerous troubles during its construction, including cost overruns resulting from Hurricane Ian, COVID-19 slowdowns and early weak demand.
In the last quarter, Allegiant Travel Co., the parent company, took a one-time fourth-quarter impairment charge of $321.8 million after Hurricanes Helene and Milton left $5.7 million in damage to Sunseeker last year.
Allegiant was the seventh busiest commercial air carrier at Harry Reid International Airport in 2024 with 2 million passengers carried to Las Vegas, a 3.8 percent market share of the airport’s domestic passengers.
The company reported a net loss of $216.2 million, $13 a share, on revenue of $627.7 million for the quarter that ended Dec. 31. A year ago, the company reported a net loss of $2 million, 13 cents a share, on revenue of $611 million.
On the Nasdaq exchange, Allegiant Travel on Tuesday closed up $1.30, 1.3 percent, to $99.11 a share on volume nearly twice the daily average.
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.