(WASHINGTON) – In advance of Allegiant Travel Company’s Allegiant (NASDAQ: ALGT) 2024 second-quarter earnings announcement tomorrow, Allegiant Air pilots and their union are raising questions about the company’s direction and decision-making as pilots continue to work under an outdated labor agreement negotiated in 2016. The 1,300-member pilot group is represented by Teamsters Local 2118. Allegiant Air is a low-cost U.S. air carrier focused on leisure travel.
“Allegiant pilots are proud to serve their customers and get them safely to their destinations every day. They are invested in Allegiant’s success and are urging management to invest in pilots as other airlines have done to prevent another avoidable labor dispute with the carrier,” said Captain Jim Clark, Assistant Trustee at Local 2118.
Across the airline industry, pilots have secured significant improvements to their working conditions and compensation in recent years. However, as contract negotiations between Allegiant Air and Teamsters Local 2118 enter their fourth year, Allegiant Air is demanding that pilots agree to concessionary changes to their schedules and other parts of their contract that impact quality of work life to pay for increases in compensation that still leave Allegiant pilots far behind their industry peers operating the same type of aircraft.
The company’s website states, “Las Vegas-based Allegiant (NASDAQ: ALGT) is an integrated travel company with an airline at its heart,” but instead of making investments in pilots the priority, Allegiant leaders have poured money into other projects like The Sunseeker Resort hotel in Charlotte Harbor, Florida. Following previously reported significant cost overruns, the company’s 2024 first quarter Allegiant Travel Company’s 8-K reported hotel losses and other problems, such as low occupancy, alongside overall disappointing earnings for the period.
“Given Allegiant’s current struggles, why is company leadership trying to provoke a labor dispute with its pilots that will only harm the company and its brand?” asked Captain Clark. “At a time when virtually all U.S.-based airlines have settled pilot contracts that dramatically raise pay and address the need to retrain and attract pilots through improved working conditions, Allegiant continues the bargaining tactics of old, pushing not just a substandard agreement, but stunningly concessionary in some areas that have even some of the most senior pilots considering work elsewhere.”
If Allegiant Air is the “heart” of the Allegiant Travel Company, as the marketing materials claim, pilots encourage investors to tell company leaders to make investing in the airline and its pilots—and the avoidance of a labor dispute—their highest priority. Investors should also critically evaluate management’s bargaining tactics in their contract talks with pilots, as these highly skilled professionals are essential to the growth of the airline and the company’s stock performance.
Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.3 million hardworking people in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. Visit Teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and “like” us on Facebook at Facebook.com/teamsters.
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