Allegiant Air reports higher year-for-year passenger counts

Allegiant Travel Co.'s brisk passenger growth continued in November, but not as fast as its expanded flight schedule.

During the month, the company's Allegiant Air unit carried 558,000 people, 15.8 percent more than a year ago. The number includes both scheduled and charter service, with the latter segment comprising less than 10 percent of the traffic.

Because of longer average flights now that Hawaii's on the schedule, the number of miles each seat traveled with a paying passenger rose 20.3 percent. However, the number of miles all the seats traveled, a measure of total capacity, rose 24.8 percent. As a result, the occupancy rate fell from 86 percent a year ago to 82.9 percent, lower than normal for Allegiant.

Allegiant said its fares ran lower than expected in November, a trend projected to continue in December.

The company said the pace of growth would slow in the first quarter of 2013, with seat miles up from 15 percent to 19 percent compared to 21 percent to 23 percent this quarter.

Allegiant Travel shares fell $1.71, or 2.28 percent, Friday to close at $73.25 on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.Contact reporter Tim O'Reiley at toreiley@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290.