"OCALA — Veteran aircraft mechanic Greg Marino worked at Allegiant Air for just two weeks before he quit because of what he said are the airline's dangerous maintenance practices.

Marino said mechanics at the airline's facility in Sanford often lapsed into bad maintenance habits. He said they failed to follow proper procedure in diagnosing aircraft problems and routinely misused a Federal Aviation Administration program that allowed planes, under some conditions, to fly with inoperative components or systems.

Marino said the airline needlessly delayed repairs in the push to keep planes flying, eroding the margin of safety."

Meanwhile, the fleet is plagued by persistent mechanical problems due to poor equipment and the company’s unwillingness to invest in its operation or its workforce, as attested by the numerous FAA safety investigations, aircraft groundings, and training program closures.

The company’s profits are propped up by the extra workload placed on its understaffed, underpaid and overworked workforce and its minimalist approach to maintenance and safety.

With Allegiant making millions in profits each year, our customers and our families should not be put at risk by a company that is content to just barely meet safety standards – a mindset that results in the delays and cancellations you experience when you fly with us.

Allegiant represents the worst in an economy today where greedy CEOs disregard needed investments into a company’s workforce and infrastructure at the expense of passenger safety and for the benefit of Wall Street.

The Teamsters Aviation Mechanics Coalition recently came out with a report criticizing the airline's maintenance policies. It says that from September of 2014 to March of this year, there were 65 incidents where planes had to be diverted or returned to the gate because of mechanical problems.

"They seem to be putting profits before safety, and that to me is a very frightening thing," said Chris Moore, the chairman of the coalition. "If Allegiant is number two with a 21 percent profit margin, they should not be having these kinds of maintenance issues."

"For the size of their fleet, and to have as many emergency landings as they have and for them to keep turning a blind eye - I'd say it's definitely out of the ordinary," he said.

The pilots union said that the number of emergency incidents and mechanical problems in the last year comes from Allegiant "cutting corners" on safety. It calls for increased oversight from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), as well as overhauling the company's training programs.
And just one week before that, on Aug. 17, a Las Vegas to Peoria, Illinois, flight failed after an out of control takeoff attempt . The plane's nose came up prematurely and pilots couldn't force it back down.

"And that's one of the issues that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up when I saw this issue. Because it reminds me so much of pre-accident ValuJet and that makes me very, very nervous," said John Goglia, a former member of the National Transportation Safety Board.
Unions representing both pilots and mechanics say old planes and scrimping on maintenance make flying Allegiant like playing Russian roulette.

"If you continue to run an airline and not put money into maintenance, eventually you're gonna get into a situation that you can't recover from," said Moore.