Allegiant Air
| Traded as |
NASDAQ: ALGT S&P 600 Component |
|---|---|
| Website | www |
Allegiant Air is an American low-cost airline owned by Allegiant Travel Co. that operates scheduled and charter flights. Allegiant Travel Company (NASDAQ: ALGT) is a publicly traded company with 2,848 employees and over $2.6 billion USD market capitalization. The corporate headquarters are in Summerlin, Nevada, a suburban community of Las Vegas.
Allegiant Air was founded in January 1997 by Mitch Allee (Owner, CEO), Jim Patterson (President) and Capt. Dave Beadle (Chief Pilot). The airline received FAA and DOT certification June 19, 1998. (Please note: Allegiant Airlines was originally founded as a "High End" charter airline and was a completely different airline from the airline currently operating out of Las Vegas, NV.)
Allegiant was founded in 1997 under the name WestJet Express. After a trademark dispute with West Jet Air Center of Rapid City, South Dakota and with the name's similarity to WestJet Airlines of Canada, the airline adopted the name Allegiant Air and received its operating certificate for scheduled and charter domestic operations in 1998. The airline also has authority for charter service to Canada and Mexico. Wholly owned by Allegiant Travel, the airline has over 2848 employees.
Scheduled service began on October 15, 1998, between Las Vegas and the airline's original hub in Fresno, California, at the Fresno Yosemite International Airport, with Douglas DC-9-21 and McDonnell Douglas DC-9-51 jetliners. During the second half of 1999, the airline was operating nonstop flights between Fresno and Las Vegas, Burbank and Lake Tahoe, and Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe as well as flying one stop direct service between Fresno and Lake Tahoe via Las Vegas. Shortly after the shutdown of WinAir Airlines in 1999, Allegiant Air opened a small hub in Long Beach, CA (LGB) and in 2000 was operating nonstop flights to Fresno and Las Vegas in addition to Fresno-Las Vegas nonstop service. Later in 2000, Allegiant continued to expand and was operating the only nonstop jet service between Lake Tahoe Airport from Long Beach in addition to operating new flights into Portland, OR and Reno with Portland-Reno and Reno-Fresno nonstops in addition to direct one stop service being operated between Portland and Fresno via Reno. However, Allegiant was unable to bring in enough revenue to cover its costs and on December 13, 2000, Allegiant filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and Maurice J. Gallagher, Jr., the major creditor of the airline, gained control of the business during reorganization.
...
Wikipedia