August 08, 2007

Allegiant Still Doing Great

Discount airline Allegiant Air saw its second quarter profit jump 112 percent compared to the previous year with a growing number of passengers flying to Las Vegas and Orlando, Fla., along with expansion into Tampa. Allegiant's second quarter net income was $10 million compared to $4.7 million in the second quarter of 2006.

Total operating revenue was $88.9 million, a 49.1 percent increase over $59.7 million during the second three months of last year. "Both Las Vegas and Orlando were substantially stronger year over year, with Orlando's improvement significantly outpacing that of Las Vegas," said Michael Gallagher Jr., Allegiant chairman, CEO and president, in a statement.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Allegiant looks to be a sound business oriented enterprise. Since they left other airports since leaving Worcester, they'll stay where they'll make a profit. Sound business policy.

I'm sure the airport did everything in it's power to have them stay. Who would in their right mind drive away business?

Worcester shouls be looking ahead and not in the rear view mirror. No sense crying over spilled milk

Anonymous said...

completely agreed.

Anonymous said...

I also agree but it has been a year and the spilled milk is still on the floor. I hope Massport comes in soon and cleans up the mess.

Bill Randell said...

Anonymous:

I agree with your assertion that Allegiant has a sound business policy. Disagree, however that ORH did everything in their power. Right now I estimate that we are still sitting on over $200,000 of Small Community Air Service monies, not to mention the $200,000 that we have spent on IMG.

All of these monies should have been spent on keeping Allegiant at ORH.

Bill

Bill Randell said...

Tim:

Nothing is going to happen until MassPort comes in here, you are right. It is too bad we are going to waste 6 more months and about another $500,000 of tax-payer money by moving the transition from July to January. Not to mention we most likely will miss the winter travel season.

Bill

Anonymous said...

Tim, I am conjecturing it will July 1, 2008...........more like 12 months.........let's have a contest.....................see who can guess when ( and if??) Massport ever moves in at ORH

Bill Randell said...

Jahn:

We keep hearing the councilors looking for ways to save money. Right now ORH is costing us approximately $90,000 per month.

We should be getting this deal done with MassPort ASAP, not wait until January, so we can save te $90,000 per month.

Bill

Anonymous said...

What about the $2 million that we will NOT be getting b/c we did not reach 10K passengers?..................does thsi mean the monthly deficit is higher by $167,000 ( $2M by 12 mos) ?

Bill Randell said...

Jahn:

It is one million dollars to retain primary air status which means $1,000,000 from the FAA. In the past we were able to get the $1,000,000, mostly from the efforts of Congressman McGovern, blaming 9/11 for the drop-off.

When exactly we lose the $1,000,000 for not reaching 10,000 passengers, I do not know.

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't say we are crying over spilled milk rather that we are raising a flag of ORH being milked. We never did get the full story about why Allegiant pulled out of ORH. Allegiant said it was a business decision, city leaders said otherwise....2 sides to the story, the truth lays somewhere in the middle.

Was it the fuel costs that chased Allegiant away?

Any Massport shenanigans to derail the success of ORH and drive down the price/terms of running/purchasing the airport?

Was the CEO of Allegiant a 'charlatan' , or simply business savvy?

You see what I'm saying? We need to find out the root cause so that mistake is not made again in the future. Just think, ok the city practically gives ORH away for pennies on the dollar to Massport come January, what if Massport immediately turns around and sells ORH for big $$$$$$ to any of the possible casino developers eyeing Marlboro and Palmer? Then what? Massport makes out with millions and the taxpayers of Worcester get shafted. All I know is ORH is floundering and Allegiant's business is booming. If Allegiant were still at ORH, I'm sure you would have seen Skybus follow Allegiant to ORH along with additional Allegiant flights to Florida. Given the successful lobbying by the domestic airline industry to keep EasyJet and Virgin America from operating in the US, what other carriers aside from Allegiant and Skybus would seek out ORH? Massport has a stranglehold on the legacy (American, Delta,United, etc) carriers and if/when they take over ORH , they are simply going to dump the worst routes on ORH at the highest cost per ticket. Granted that is better than nothing but opportunities are presenting themselves and each opportunity should be explored diligently.

Harry Tembenis
Worcester, MA

Bill Randell said...

Harry:

Well said.

Bill

Anonymous said...

I stand corrected on Virgin America:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a_5j6W8t7O6E&refer=news


Harry Tembenis
Worcester, MA