Go Back  Airline Pilot Central Forums > Airline Pilot Forums > Major
Forbes on profits & ULCCs >

Forbes on profits & ULCCs

Search
Notices
Major Legacy, National, and LCC

Forbes on profits & ULCCs

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old 01-02-2020, 05:50 AM
  #11  
Banned
 
Joined APC: Dec 2019
Posts: 193
Default

Allegiant was the highest profit margin airline in the US last year. Funny how everyone overlooks that. Most of our income comes from travel packages and ancillary revenue. We also fly older aircraft that are mostly paid for, and park them on days nobody flies (Tuesday/Saturday, major holidays). Most of our routes are only flown 3x a week. 97% of our routes have no competition.

The ULCC model is like a gas station. You put a sign out on the freeway advertising the lowest price in the area and everyone stops to fill up. You lose money on the gas, or at best break even, but while everyone is in the gas station, they buy snacks and drinks. That's where the real money is made.

Allegiant was around in the 2008 recession and actually grew. Those who would have bought tickets on the big airlines tried Allegiant out instead due to price pressure. A common saying has been "We don't compete with the other airlines, we compete with Home Depot, because people in the rural midwest decision weighing is "renovate the kitchen this summer, or go on vacation"? People are still going to go on vacation, in fact, hard times make people want to relax more, but they become a lot more price conscious. The ULCCs don't want or care about business travelers. As the industry matures, we are going to see more and more of the leisure travelers getting off the legacy carriers to to point that the legacies are only business "HVCs" and transoceanic passengers.

The next recession will see consolidation in the ULCCs. whoever has the most cash will be the one acquiring.
KIGECA97531 is offline  
Old 01-02-2020, 06:12 AM
  #12  
Gets Weekends Off
 
Joined APC: Mar 2007
Position: Petting Zoo
Posts: 2,074
Default

Originally Posted by senecacaptain View Post
with that said, Spirit and Frontier are growing like wildfire. Where is the growth at AA or DAL. I don't mean retirements of senior Captains = I get to the left seat faster. I mean growth aka new routes, new cities, new aircraft (not replacements of old aircraft).
I got hired at DAl five years ago when there were 12.1K pilots on list, now 14.5K with advancing hiring forecast all year.

The next recession will cull the herd, as always happens. Spirit has a proven business model that has survived in good times and bad.

But if I knew how to predict the future I wouldn't be flying planes for a living
Sputnik is offline  
Old 01-02-2020, 07:50 AM
  #13  
Gets Weekends Off
 
Joined APC: Aug 2016
Posts: 252
Default

Originally Posted by KIGECA97531 View Post
Allegiant was the highest profit margin airline in the US last year. Funny how everyone overlooks that. Most of our income comes from travel packages and ancillary revenue. We also fly older aircraft that are mostly paid for, and park them on days nobody flies (Tuesday/Saturday, major holidays). Most of our routes are only flown 3x a week. 97% of our routes have no competition.

The ULCC model is like a gas station. You put a sign out on the freeway advertising the lowest price in the area and everyone stops to fill up. You lose money on the gas, or at best break even, but while everyone is in the gas station, they buy snacks and drinks. That's where the real money is made.

Allegiant was around in the 2008 recession and actually grew. Those who would have bought tickets on the big airlines tried Allegiant out instead due to price pressure. A common saying has been "We don't compete with the other airlines, we compete with Home Depot, because people in the rural midwest decision weighing is "renovate the kitchen this summer, or go on vacation"? People are still going to go on vacation, in fact, hard times make people want to relax more, but they become a lot more price conscious. The ULCCs don't want or care about business travelers. As the industry matures, we are going to see more and more of the leisure travelers getting off the legacy carriers to to point that the legacies are only business "HVCs" and transoceanic passengers.

The next recession will see consolidation in the ULCCs. whoever has the most cash will be the one acquiring.
That’s a really interesting take. My family and I flew Allegiant quite a bit to visit family in the Midwest. Best part was flying out of smaller airports with cheap parking, short TSA lines, and saving hundreds on rental cars compared to renting out of the major hubs. It’s a very interesting niche and I really hope it plays out for you in the long term.
Psycho18th is offline  
Related Topics
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
iahflyr
United
117
02-04-2018 04:52 AM
Aero1900
Major
14
11-08-2015 08:07 PM
gzsg
Delta
10296
07-10-2015 01:42 PM
lakehouse
Regional
0
12-22-2010 07:21 AM
SWAjet
Major
0
05-10-2005 03:54 PM

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



Your Privacy Choices