Las Vegas, Nev.-based Allegiant Air, the low-cost carrier owned by Allegiant Travel Co., said it will lease 19 used Airbus A319s to begin entering its fleet in the 2013 second quarter.
The leisure specialist plans to use the aircraft to support planned capacity growth and to replace at least two older aircraft. “The A319 is a new aircraft type for Allegiant, but we otherwise see this as a continuation of our existing business model,” president Andrew Levy said. “A319 asset values have significantly declined and now mirror the environment we saw when we first began buying MD-80s.”
Allegiant’s fleet currently comprises 58 MD-80s, as well as four Boeing 757-200s it is using to launch Hawaii services; it also owns two additional 757-200s.
The airline said it will lease nine former easyJet A319s from GE Aviation Capital Services and 10 A319s from Cebu Pacific Air; it plans to eventually buy the 10 aircraft from Cebu Pacific. At this time, Allegiant only plans to retire two MD-80s, portending strong capacity expansion over the next several years. All of the A319s are expected to be in service with Allegiant by the 2015 third quarter.
Noting that the A319’s range is 3,600 nautical miles compared to the MD-80’s 1,400 nm. range, Allegiant said the Airbus narrowbodies will open “many new route opportunities.”
Airbus Americas president and CEO Barry Eccleston stated, “A new operator is always great news, but it’s a grand endorsement of the Airbus product line when that operator is a growing low-cost carrier in one of the strongest markets in the world. Allegiant is hyper conscious of both cost and comfort.”
(Aaron Karp - ATWOnline News)
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