Allegiant Air plans to have the first two of its Boeing MD-80s featuring 166 seats available this summer.
The company in September of 2010 revealed its plans to boost seating capacity on the mainstay of its fleet from 150 to 166 seats. Flightglobal's ACAS database shows Allegiant operates 54 MD-80 family aircraft, but Allegiant management has previously said it has no plans to add seats to three MD-87s configured with 130 seats.
During a 31 January earnings call Allegiant Travel chief executive Maurice Gallagher explained the first two aircraft would be available later this year and the company expects to have four production lines to convert the aircraft.
A company spokeswoman says FlightStar based in Jacksonville, Florida is handling the first two conversions - aircraft 421NV and 424NV. AAR is converting aircraft 422NV and 423NV at its Oklahoma City facility, while Volant Aero has been selected to do the engineering and supplemental type certificate (STC) application for the first four aircraft.
"No other MRO or engineering commitments have been made at this time," she says.
Allegiant also anticipates having one Boeing 757 "available this summer", says Gallagher. Achieving extended twin operations (ETOPS) certification was one reason Allegiant had to push the launch of its 757-operated flights to Hawaii from the fourth quarter of 2010 to the second half of 2011.
Allegiant unveiled plans in March 2010 to operate six Boeing 757s on flights to Hawaii, and later the joint venture between AerCap and Deucalion Aviation Funds was identified as the source for the aircraft.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
