18 January, 2022

U.S. budget airline Allegiant saw passenger numbers above pre-covid levels in December - just

Allegiant today reported preliminary passenger traffic results for December 2021, fourth quarter 2021, and full year 2021 which showed a slight improvement on the number of passengers carried.

"Fourth quarter scheduled capacity was up 14.5 percent as compared with 2019, in line with our initial expectations," stated Drew Wells, senior vice president of revenue. "Despite a challenging operating environment during the Christmas holiday peak-period, we ended the quarter with a load factor of 78.8 percent, the highest since the onset of the pandemic. Although Omicron led to an uptick in customer cancellations, daily booking trends throughout the quarter consistently outperformed levels observed in 2019. This strength in bookings resulted in total operating revenue of roughly $496 million for the quarter, an increase of more than 7.5 percent when compared with 2019."

"We are pleased to report that the fourth quarter will be our third consecutive quarter of profitability since the onset of the pandemic," stated Gregory Anderson, executive vice president and chief financial officer. "Despite operational challenges around holiday peak travel, we expect an adjusted1 EBITDA margin for the fourth quarter of roughly 19 percent. This margin includes nearly $23 million of irregular operations costs incurred during the quarter, the majority of which were incurred in December. Operational challenges were predominantly a result of crew shortages related to Omicron. Although these challenges continued into early January, we are beginning to see relief and expect significant improvement in the operation as the Omicron variant begins to dissipate."  


Scheduled Service – Year Over Two-Year Comparison



December 2021

December 2019

Change

Passengers

1,320,403

1,308,341

0.9%

Revenue passenger miles (000)

1,226,131

1,165,902

5.2%

Available seat miles (000)

1,556,101

1,411,107

10.3%

Load factor

78.8%

82.6%

(3.8 pts)

Departures

9,801

9,423

4.0%

Average stage length (miles)

902

871

3.6%


4th Quarter 2021

4th Quarter 2019

Change

Passengers

3,671,032

3,516,263

4.4%

Revenue passenger miles (000)

3,306,563

3,073,055

7.6%

Available seat miles (000)

4,288,133

3,745,031

14.5%

Load factor

77.1%

82.1%

(5.0pts)

Departures

27,818

25,541

8.9%

Average stage length (miles)

876

856

2.3%


YTD 2021

YTD 2019

Change

Passengers

13,509,544

14,823,267

(8.9%)

Revenue passenger miles (000)

11,963,715

13,038,003

(8.2%)

Available seat miles (000)

17,027,902

15,545,818

9.5%

Load factor

70.3%

83.9%

(13.6pts)

Departures

113,121

105,690

7.0%

Average stage length (miles)

862

859

0.3%





 

Total System* - Year Over Two-Year Comparison



December 2021

December 2019

Change

Passengers

1,327,884

1,318,872

0.7%

Available seat miles (000)

1,586,060

1,453,592

9.1%

Departures

10,065

9,742

3.3%

Average stage length (miles)

896

868

3.2%


4th Quarter 2021

4th Quarter 2019

Change

Passengers

3,731,034

3,585,966

4.0%

Available seat miles (000)

4,440,839

3,928,536

13.0%

Departures

29,193

27,088

7.8%

Average stage length (miles)

865

846

2.2%






YTD 2021

YTD 2019

Change

Passengers

13,637,405

15,012,149

(9.2%)

Available seat miles (000)

17,490,571

16,174,240

8.1%

Departures

117,047

110,542

5.9%

Average stage length (miles)

856

855

0.1%

 

Scheduled Service – Year Over Year Comparison



December 2021

December 2020

Change

Passengers

1,320,403

673,041

96.2%

Revenue passenger miles (000)

1,226,131

611,429

100.5%

Available seat miles (000)

1,556,101

1,128,200

37.9%

Load factor

78.8%

54.2%

24.6pts

Departures

9,801

7,281

34.6%

Average stage length (miles)

902

891

1.2%


4th Quarter 2021

4th Quarter 2020

Change

Passengers

3,671,032

2,129,292

72.4%

Revenue passenger miles (000)

3,306,563

1,878,831

76.0%

Available seat miles (000)

4,288,133

3,226,050

32.9%

Load factor

77.1%

58.2%

18.9pts

Departures

27,818

21,399

30.0%

Average stage length (miles)

876

868

0.9%


YTD 2021

YTD 2020

Change

Passengers

13,509,544

8,553,623

57.9%

Revenue passenger miles (000)

11,963,715

7,626,470

56.9%

Available seat miles (000)

17,027,902

12,814,080

32.9%

Load factor

70.3%

59.5%

10.8pts

Departures

113,121

85,276

32.7%

Average stage length (miles)

862

867

(0.6%)

 

Total System* - Year Over Year Comparison



December 2021

December 2020

Change

Passengers

1,327,884

679,424

95.4%

Available seat miles (000)

1,586,060

1,147,534

38.2%

Departures

10,065

7,471

34.7%

Average stage length (miles)

896

883

1.5%


4th Quarter 2021

4th Quarter 2020

Change

Passengers

3,731,034

2,159,035

72.8%

Available seat miles (000)

4,440,839

3,315,599

33.9%

Departures

29,193

22,189

31.6%

Average stage length (miles)

865

860

0.6%


YTD 2021

YTD 2020

Change

Passengers

13,637,405

8,623,984

58.1%

Available seat miles (000)

17,490,571

13,125,533

33.3%

Departures

117,047

87,955

33.1%

Average stage length (miles)

856

862

(0.7%)



*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

December 2021 estimated average fuel cost per gallon – system

$2.37




$ per gallon

4th quarter 2021 estimated average fuel cost per gallon – system

$2.48






$ per gallon

Full year 2021 estimated average fuel cost per gallon – system

$2.15





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