Allegiant Air continues taking deliveries of Boeing 737 Max 8s in a more timely manner than anticipated, representing a positive sign for the airframer’s recovery as a steady supplier.
Drew Wells, the airline’s chief commercial officer, said during Allegiant Travel Company’s earnings call on 4 August that “Boeing has exceeded our expectations on aircraft deliveries throughout this year”.
“Predictable and reliable performance from Boeing provides us with tremendous fleet flexibility,” he says.
Las Vegas-based Allegiant is in the process of transitioning away from operating only Airbus A320-family aircraft, having taken delivery of its first 737 Max 8-200 in October.
The carrier had previously anticipated operating a lone Max 8 through the end of last year, citing Boeing’s ongoing production problems and a machinists’ strike that shut down the airframer’s Seattle-area production programmes for several weeks.
But Allegiant ended 2024 with four Max 8s in its possession, with a trio of the latest-generation narrowbodies arriving earlier than expected. That trend has continued for Allegiant as Boeing gains positive momentum on its 737 programme.
Allegiant ended the second quarter with a total of nine 737 Max 8s, and it expects to receive an additional seven examples through year-end. That would leave Allegiant with 122 total aircraft, including A320s and smaller A319s.
“Our new Max aircraft are boosting our performance as expected, leading our fleet in reliability and contributing a significant margin advantage when compared to our older A320 aircraft,” says chief executive Greg Anderson.
In the second quarter, 737 operations accounted for about 10% of Allegiant’s passenger capacity as measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs).
Anderson describes 2025 as a ”a one-time catch up year after Max delivery delays that sharply curtailed our capacity growth in previous years”. The discounter plans to ramp up pilot-hiring and increase fleet numbers in the years ahead.
Training pilots to fly a new type of aircraft has been difficult in the middle of this summer air travel season, however.
“In light of staffing costs incurred in 2024, we made the conscious decision at the start of the year not to hire additional flight crews for these aircraft and plan for pilot transition [to Max aircraft] after our summer peak schedule,” Wells says. “We expect to place the remainder of these aircraft into service alongside available type-rated flight crews beginning in October, when we transition our Fort Lauderdale base to an all-Max operation.”
Allegiant plans to ramp up 737 Max 8 operations in the fourth quarter, and expects roughly 20% of its ASKs will come from flying Max 8s in 2026.
Overall aircraft numbers will likely stay flat in 2026, as Allegiant plans to retire eight older A320s and take delivery of nine additional Max 8s.
Allegiant Travel Company reports a second-quarter loss of $65 million, compared with a $14 million profit during the same period of 2024.
The company’s quarterly revenue increased year-on-year by 4%, to $689 million.
