Allegiant breaks with history by buying first new aircraft

Allegiant Airlines will buy new aircraft for the first time, in a purchase valued at $1.2b, as the discount carrier speeds its shift to a fleet of all Airbus Group planes by mid-2019. Buying the 12 A320 jets with currently available engines allows the airline to add planes “opportunistically” as Airbus switches its focus to pricier models with new, more fuel-efficient turbines, Allegiant CEO Maury Gallagher said Friday. The purchase of new aircraft doesn’t represent a change in the low-cost carrier’s strategy, he said. While the value is based on list prices, discounts are customary in such transactions. The jetliners will build on Allegiant’s efforts to improve operations after diverted flights and emergency landings raised concern at the carrier over the last year. Federal regulators said last week that while they found deficiencies in training manuals and practices during an extensive review, the shortfalls were minor and “non-systemic.” The purchases will move up the retirement of Allegiant’s oldest planes from an earlier plan for the fall of 2020. The economic terms of the purchase “were very good,” Tom Doxey, Allegiant’s VP for fleet and corporate finance, said on a call with investors and analysts. “We are focused on buying used airplanes on a continuing basis,” COO Jude Bricker said. “We look at this as any other spot transaction we do, and it will augment our purchase of used airplanes.”<br/>