unaligned

Allegiant Travel, parent of Allegiant Air, announced a Q4 net profit of US$41.3m, down 27.2% on the previous year. Operating revenue for the quarter was 8% up at $335.9m, while expenses rose 23.3% to $267.8m. Capacity in available seat miles jumped 13.3%, and passenger traffic in revenue passenger miles was up 10.9%. The resulting load factor came in at 79.8%, 1.7 percentage points down on the prior year period. For the full year to end Dec 2016, Allegiant earned $219.6m, a 0.4% dip from 2015. Operating revenue rose 8% to $1.36b, but expenses were up 11.4% at $992.3m. ASM capacity for the full year was up 17.6%, with RPM traffic up 15%. Load factor was down 1.9% at 83.1%. Looking forward, Allegiant expects revenue per available seat mile to be down by between 1.5 and 3.5% in Q1 2017. <br/>

Omani budget carrier SalamAir launched operations Monday, becoming the latest Gulf airline competing for the region’s low-cost travel market. The airline said it began operations with a domestic flight from the southwestern city of Salalah to the capital Muscat. In addition to the domestic market, SalamAir will fly to Dubai, as well as Makkah and Madinah in Saudi Arabia, and Karachi in Pakistan, chairman Khalid Al Yahmadi said. The carrier is to operate a fleet of 3 leased Airbus A320 single-aisle planes. Yahmadi said SalamAir could clinch between 20 and 30% of the Omani aviation market, currently dominated by Oman Air. <br/>