Allegiant Air’s chief operating officer Keny Wilper has stepped down and will be replaced on an interim basis by longtime company executive Tyler Hollingsworth.
Hollingsworth, a former Allegiant pilot who has been with Allegiant since October 2010, currently works as the company’s senior vice-president of flight operations.
The Las Vegas-based discounter disclosed on 3 March that Wilper would step down “effective today” following a 23-year career with Allegiant, adding that he would act as an advisor during the search for his permanent successor.
Wilper says he is leaving Allegiant to “focus on my family, who have faced some significant challenges”.
After joining Allegiant in 2002, Wilper “began working with the team to shape Allegiant into a low-cost carrier”, the company says. It credits him with developing the “ancillary” aspects of Allegiant’s business model, which generate revenue on top of ticket sales through “add-on” fees for baggage and other extras.
Greg Anderson, Allegiant’s chief executive, says that Wilper “has been instrumental in our company’s success” over the past two decades.
”When I first joined Allegiant, I had high hopes that we would become a successful airline,” Wilper says. “We have far surpassed my dreams, becoming not just an airline but a driving force in leisure travel.”
