Allegiant flies more passengers farther in December
As had been projected, Allegiant Travel Co. flew more passengers and on longer routes in December than one year earlier.
During the month, the travel booking company and parent of Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air boosted its passenger count on scheduled flights by 534,000 passengers or 8.3 percent compared with 2010.
At the same time, the widely watched airline benchmark of revenue passenger miles, or the cumulative miles all the customers travel on an Allegiant Air jet, rose 10 percent to 502.6 million as the average trip length went up 17 miles to 926.
The load factor, or occupancy rate of the planes, dropped a fraction of a percentage point to 88.8 percent.
For the entire year, the passenger count rose only 3 percent to 5.8 million and revenue miles rose 2 percent to 5.3 billion as Allegiant tightened its schedules in the first part of the year to offset rising fuel prices.
Including charters, the passenger count in December rose 10.2 percent to 558,000, with revenue miles up 11.1 percent to 520.4 million.
Allegiant Travel shares rose 74 cents, or 1.37 percent, Tuesday to close at $53.27 on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.
Contact reporter Tim O'Reiley at
toreiley@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290.
