The stage was set again in March when Allegiant determined to shut its crew base at LAX. The airline had saved some flying from LAX to different bases for a time, however that plan is now gone; the final flights go away for Bellingham and Cincinnati on the finish of the vacations. Not like when Frontier deserted LAX, Allegiant hasn’t actually performed a lot to interchange it within the area. It seems to be enthusiastic about issues fairly in another way.
Allegiant first started service to Los Angeles (LAX) in Might of 2009. It didn’t dip its toes in. As a substitute, it introduced LAX would develop into the airline’s sixth base proper off the bat. Don’t get me fallacious. That is nonetheless Allegiant we’re speaking about, so it wasn’t that massive. In Might 2009 it peaked on Saturdays with 5 flights. Bellingham and Monterrey had been the largest of the 13 locations with three weekly.
From there, Allegiant, effectively, it didn’t actually do a lot for a while. In 2010, it took a swing at Lengthy Seaside, however that didn’t final. It wasn’t till the summer time of 2014 that Allegiant lastly tried to develop LAX, nevertheless it saved it a largely summer time seasonal base. And there it remained till COVID.
Then, effectively, have a look.
Allegiant Departures and Locations from the LA Space
Information by way of Cirium
LAX had its greatest summer time ever for Allegiant in 2021, however these weren’t the airline’s solely strikes. Allegiant entered Orange County when demand dropped at different airways throughout COVID. That opened up slot alternatives. From Orange County, Allegiant has had assorted success, however the massive winner has been Provo which has each day service in winter and as much as 10x weekly in summer time. That sort of frequency is a rarity in Allegiant’s world.
Whereas this was occurring, issues bought uglier at LAX. Prices continued to rise and Allegiant was pushed out to the distant midfield concourse. Vacationers needed to test in at Terminal 1.5 after which be bused out to the far western concourse. Ultimately, Allegiant mentioned that when it had a base, prices had been upwards of $50 per passenger. Even with out a base, LAX says its prices per enplanement are over $32 per passenger. That doesn’t work for a low-cost operator even when the expertise isn’t as dangerous as that midfield concourse requires.
So, Allegiant has taken its Bellingham flight which attracts Canadians and moved the vacation spot from LAX to Burbank. It has additionally added a brand new Provo flight, hoping to capitalize on that route the way in which that it has performed in Orange County. It’s clearly not thrilled that Breeze is getting into that market, so it is occurring the offensive. You don’t see Allegiant selecting a struggle on daily basis, that’s for certain.
However for the remainder of Allegiant’s locations within the LA space, it’s completely fantastic simply strolling away. Not less than, that’s the case for now.
That is very completely different than what Frontier has performed. Frontier, you’ll recall, left LAX throughout COVID, fed up with the excessive prices. It determined to be true to its low-cost roots, and it additionally walked away from Newark.
Frontier Departures and Locations from the LA Space
Information by way of Cirium
On the time, Frontier at the very least had a strong presence in Ontario that it grew shortly, so this wasn’t fairly the identical degree of abandonment as Allegiant. Nevertheless it was nonetheless a giant change. On the time, Frontier thought it may use Burbank to interchange LAX. It had already shrunk LAX to a a lot smaller degree by the summer time of 2021 with service solely to Atlanta, Denver, Las Vegas, and Phoenix. All however Atlanta moved over to Burbank, however Denver and Phoenix didn’t even final a 12 months. By early 2023, Frontier went again to LAX, and it went again in a giant method, as you may see within the chart above.
Burbank got here again as effectively, however after one other fast fail in Phoenix and, this time, San Francisco, it’s all the way down to solely Denver.
Does this imply that Allegiant is destined to satisfy the identical destiny? Will it come crawling again to LAX? I don’t assume so. Allegiant is extra centered on prices, and so they simply aren’t sustainable at LAX for an airline like this. (Apparently Frontier has but to understand that this time round.) Plus, the Burbank routes seem like way more fastidiously chosen than Frontier’s plan to only serve the largest close by cities in its community.
It appears to me that if these Burbank routes work, Allegiant could develop there. If not, it should most certainly simply stroll away. It doesn’t really feel the necessity to serve the LA space like Frontier does, and it actually received’t function in extraordinarily high-cost airports besides in very uncommon circumstances (Newark).
To me, this simply seems like a low-cost operator making the proper transfer to give attention to low-cost services to serve a area. If that doesn’t work, effectively, that’s okay. There’s no have to power it.. That’s prone to be extra of a profitable technique than what Frontier is trying to do in LA.
