Allegiant Air continues to hunt for used Airbus A320s, seeking aircraft that can join its fleet from late 2016, says chief operating officer Jude Bricker.
The aircraft would join the seven Airbus A319s and two A320s that are scheduled to enter the Las Vegas-based carrier’s fleet this year, a fleet plan shows. Allegiant also plans to add one A319 and four A320s in 2017.
Allegiant looks for used aircraft abroad and often in areas of economic weakness, said Bricker on the sidelines of the ISTAT Americas conference in Phoenix.
He agrees that Latin America, where a number of carriers have said they plan to shrink their fleets or defer deliveries due to weak economic growth, presents an opportunity for Allegiant to source used aircraft.
One Latin American airline that plans to shrink its fleet in 2016 is LATAM Airlines Group, which plans to return at least 12 A320s to lessors in 2016.
Allegiant has previously bought aircraft from Airbus Financial Services, EasyJet, GECAS, Investec and Philippine Airlines.
Bricker declines to specify Allegiant’s target value of a used A320. The maintenance status of an aircraft can alter the value by as much as $12 million, he says.
However, he agrees that the airline’s $28 million bank debt financing of two A319s in February could be used as a benchmark of value. Allegiant maintains a roughly $3 million to $4 million equity stake in each aircraft, putting the value of those A319s around $18 million each, he adds.
Allegiant plans to remove five Boeing MD-80s from its fleet in 2016 and all of its five Boeing 757-200s in 2017.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
