Passenger numbers down over 26 percent for Allegiant in March

The Allegiant Travel Company has reported preliminary passenger traffic results for March 2021 as well as first-quarter 2021.

"We are encouraged by the meaningful improvement in customer demand throughout the month of March," stated Gregory Anderson, executive vice president and chief financial officer. "Average daily bookings for the month exceeded average daily bookings during the same time period in 2019. The significant improvement in March demand coupled with our industry-leading cost structure enabled us to generate positive EPS and EBITDA for the month of March, excluding the benefit from the payroll support grant. For the March quarter, we expect adjusted1 CASM, excluding fuel, to be down 3 to 4 percent, year over two-year."

"Capacity was up roughly three percent, when compared to 2019, with March capacity up 14 percent," stated Drew Wells, senior vice president, revenue. "Although this caused some load pressure, our focus remains on generating positive cash flows and optimizing profits. We continue to expect first quarter total revenue to fall in the middle of our previous guide of down 35 to 40 percent, when compared with 2019. We remain optimistic about peak summer travel. With national vaccination rates steadily increasing and average daily bookings trending in the right direction, we expect sequential revenue improvements into the second quarter."

1 Adjusted to exclude the impact of the payroll support grant.

Scheduled Service – Year Over Two-Year Comparison
	March 2021	March 2019	Change
Passengers	1,095,572	1,484,326	(26.2%)
Revenue passenger miles (000)	1,022,480	1,386,501	(26.3%)
Available seat miles (000)	1,832,250	1,610,575	13.8%
Load factor	55.8%	86.1%	(30.3 pts)
Departures	11,710	10,297	13.7%
Average stage length (miles)	899	914	(1.6%)
	1st Quarter 2021	1st Quarter 2019	Change
Passengers	2,323,302	3,421,538	(32.1%)
Revenue passenger miles (000)	2,166,417	3,191,045	(32.1%)
Available seat miles (000)	3,921,090	3,802,132	3.1%
Load factor	55.3%	83.9%	(28.6pts)
Departures	24,947	24,344	2.5%
Average stage length (miles)	902	908	(0.7%)

 

Total System* - Year Over Two-Year Comparison
	March 2021	March 2019	Change
Passengers	1,102,869	1,499,688	(26.5%)
Available seat miles (000)	1,884,130	1,655,330	13.8%
Departures	12,144	10,660	13.9%
Average stage length (miles)	892	908	(1.8%)

 

	1st Quarter 2021	1st Quarter 2019	Change
Passengers	2,334,503	3,450,278	(32.3%)
Available seat miles (000)	4,013,989	3,910,239	2.7%
Departures	25,684	25,200	1.9%
Average stage length (miles)	898	904	(0.7%)

 

Scheduled Service – Year Over Year Comparison
	March 2021	March 2020	Change
Passengers	1,095,572	892,966	22.7%
Revenue passenger miles (000)	1,022,480	839,766	21.8%
Available seat miles (000)	1,832,250	1,413,348	29.6%
Load factor	55.8%	59.4%	(3.6 pts)
Departures	11,710	8,926	31.2%
Average stage length (miles)	899	914	(1.6%)
	1st Quarter 2021	1st Quarter 2020	Change
Passengers	2,323,302	3,154,606	(26.4%)
Revenue passenger miles (000)	2,166,417	2,925,482	(25.9%)
Available seat miles (000)	3,921,090	3,964,009	(1.1%)
Load factor	55.3%	73.8%	(18.5pts)
Departures	24,947	25,484	(2.1%)
Average stage length (miles)	902	900	0.2%

 

Total System* - Year Over Year Comparison
	March 2021	March 2020	Change
Passengers	1,102,869	898,986	22.7%
Available seat miles (000)	1,884,130	1,441,144	30.7%
Departures	12,144	9,172	32.4%
Average stage length (miles)	892	908	(1.8%)

 

	1st Quarter 2021	1st Quarter 2020	Change
Passengers	2,334,503	3,175,450	(26.5%)
Available seat miles (000)	4,013,989	4,067,671	(1.3%)
Departures	25,684	26,312	(2.4%)
Average stage length (miles)	898	895	0.3%

 

*Total system includes scheduled service and fixed fee contract.  System revenue passenger miles and system load factor are not useful statistics as system available seat miles include both ASMs flown by fixed fee flying as well as non-revenue producing repositioning flights used for operational needs.  Fixed fee flying is better measured through dollar contribution versus operational statistics.

 

Preliminary Financial Results
	$ per gallon
March 2021 estimated average fuel cost per gallon – system	$1.99
	$ per gallon
1st quarter 2021 estimated average fuel cost per gallon – system	$1.86

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