Allegiant Air projecting double-digit capacity growth

An Allegiant Air jet takes off from McCarran International Airport on Friday, Aug. 26, 2011.

Allegiant Air’s ability to find profitable routes and willingness to ditch unprofitable ones is leading the airline to project double-digit capacity growth in the third and fourth quarters of the year.

Allegiant, a subsidiary of Las Vegas-based Allegiant Travel Co., projected available seat miles would grow 15 to 19 percent on scheduled service in the third quarter and 22 to 26 percent in the fourth quarter.

Much of the projected growth is due to Allegiant’s new service to Hawaii from several mainland cities.

The growth guidance was disclosed in Allegiant’s June traffic report, which showed the airline had an 8.1 percent increase in passengers and a 3.3 percent growth in departures, while loads were down 0.8 percentage points for the month.

Systemwide, Allegiant served 584,472 passengers in June. Flights between Las Vegas and Honolulu began June 29, and there was only one flight between those cities for the month.

For the second quarter, passenger volume was up 16 percent, the number of departures climbed 12.7 percent and loads were down 1.9 percentage points to 90.1 percent.

By comparison, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines increased its number of revenue passengers carried by 0.8 percent to 10 million in June and 0.1 percent to 28.9 million for the second quarter.

Allegiant is projecting the cost per available seat mile, which excludes fuel, to fall by 13 to 14 percent and fee revenue to rise by $12 million to $13 million for the second quarter.

The company’s financial results are scheduled to be released Aug. 1.

Business

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