Originally Posted by
akulahunter
Well, if Allegiant wanted to do Hotels/Condos... Spinning off and selling the airline portion would be TONS cheaper than having to buy the stock of Allegiant Travel as a whole company. Just sayin'.
Originally Posted by
sqwkvfr
Your thoughts are not out of line. I’ve had a suspicion that this Sunseeker resort thing is a mechanism through which certain members of senior management can shed the airline and find themselves fully owning the resort for pennies on the dollar.
That still leaves the issue of this beheamouth in the middle of nowhere Florida finding a way to survive without some sort of business partnership, association or draw to make it successful. Perhaps they already have a buyer in mind who can provide the synergies required to make it work.
I actually agree with these points.
I have been thinking for sometime now that MG must be getting to the point in his life that he wants to cash out his chips and retire. Bringing JR into the company, who only knows a little about airlines from MGM Grand Air, but knows a lot about real estate development and hotel/resort management should have been a signal to everyone that the company was moving in that direction. In fact, last year, rumors were rampant that we were "buying a hotel" and most pilots poo-pooh'd that. Then came Sunseeker. For which JR covertly bought the land from 20 different owners, then transferred it to the company. And they are building a luxury resort. In Port Charlotte? None of it really makes sense, but neither did another casino charter airline flying between FAT and LAS when this place was first started. Then we suddenly and quietly announce the MD retirements moved up a year? And we seem to have stopped/slowed hiring to facilitate that. And other goals?
My theory is that they are indeed going to separate the airline from the travel company and continue forward with the travel company, most likely run by JR. MG will still be a major stock holder and financier, probably a board member. I said they were going to separate them last year when everything involving the airline was realigned under Jude. I also said that the circumstances under Jude's sudden departure were odd. MG seemed congenial and almost left the door open for him to come back. Strange reaction for someone who suddenly dropped him for a better offer. I don't think Jude is done with allegiant. I see the airline merging with another airline, and keeping the allegiant name. Sun Country seems to be the best contender. Jude will run that new airline. The travel company will be renamed Sunseeker Travel and will have guaranteed cheap seats on allegiant to fill its resorts and vacation packages. Kind of like the Ichan TWA deal. We will focus on airlining and they will focus on vacation and resort packages. I see other resorts being built elsewhere if PGD is successful too.
Or I could just be an old man out of my gourd. Time will tell over the next year.