Allegiant Air plans to expand with eight used Airbus A320 family aircraft that it will add to its fleet in 2015, says vice-president of network and pricing Lukas Johnson.

The Las Vegas-based carrier will add 30 to 40 new markets with the aircraft as they come online, he says on the sidelines of the Airports Council International North America (ACI-NA) Jumpstart conference in Edmonton on 25 June.

New markets could include ones in the northeast along the corridor from Boston to Washington DC, in the south including Alabama and Mississippi, and in New Mexico and Texas, says Johnson. New routes among cities that Allegiant already serves are also possible.

Along the Boston-Washington corridor, Allegiant only serves Portsmouth (New Hampshire) and Newburgh (New York). Service to Long Island MacArthur, which began on a seasonal basis in December 2013, will not resume, says Johnson.

The airline does not serve any cities in Alabama, Mississippi or New Mexico, and only three in Texas.

New markets could also include routes to Canada and Mexico that Allegiant had planned to launch in 2014 but has postponed to 2015.

Allegiant will add five used A319s and three used A320s to its fleet in 2015, according to a fleet plan earlier in June. The aircraft are being purchased from GECAS and were financed by a $300 million unsecured bond deal that launched earlier in June.

The airline plans to operate 78 aircraft at the end of 2015 compared to 69 on 30 June, the fleet plan shows.

Source: Cirium Dashboard