Allegiant passenger count rises 14.6 percent in December

Allegiant Travel Co., the parent of Las Vegas-based discount flier Allegiant Air, on Monday posted a 14.6 percent gain in passengers on scheduled service in December compared with a year earlier.

In a statement, Allegiant said it carried 492,841 passengers in December, up from 429,993 a year earlier. For 2010, Allegiant said it carried 5,609,852 passengers, up 14 percent from 4,919,826 passengers in 2009.

But some other statistics showed changes in the schedules that were being implemented at year's end.

Revenue passenger miles, the cumulative total of miles flown by paying passengers, rose 12.5 percent in December compared with 16.4 percent for the entire year. This came as the average flight length dropped 1.7 percent in December, to 909 miles, even though the annual figure showed a 2.4 percent gain to 912 miles. Some of its new routes were relatively short, such as Las Vegas to Bakersfield, Calif.

Load factor, or the share of seats filled, was 89.5 percent in December, down 1.1 percent from a year earlier, but still one of the highest levels in the airline industry.