Maurice J. Gallagher, Jr.

• Gallagher is the CEO of Allegiant Air.
• Prior to becoming the majority owner of Allegiant in 2001, Gallagher was a founder and investor of several companies including MPower Communications, ValuJet Airlines, and WestAir.
• Here is his LinkedIn profile.

John Redmond

• Redmond is the President of Allegiant.
• Redmond has been in the hospitality industry for 30 years. Prior to joining Allegiant, he worked at Echo Entertainment, MGM Grand Resorts, and Caesars World.
• Redmond did not have a LinkedIn profile so his Bloomberg profile is provided as an alternative.

D. Scott Sheldon

• Sheldon is the Executive Vice President and COO of Allegiant.
• Sheldon spent the majority of his career in various roles at Allegiant, including CFO, senior VP, and principal accounting officer. Prior to that he spent several years at the accounting firm Perry-Smith.
• Here is his LinkedIn profile.

Gregory Anderson

• Anderson is an executive VP, CFO, and principal accounting officer at Allegiant.
• Anderson has been with Allegiant since 2010 in roles including the senior VP of treasury. Prior to joining Allegiant, he worked at U.S. Airways and Ernst & Young.
• Here is his LinkedIn profile.

Scott DeAngelo

• DeAngelo is the chief marketing officer (CMO) at Allegiant.
• DeAngelo joined Allegiant in March 2018. Prior to that he spent seven years at Vantiv and also worked at Acxiom and McKinsey.
• Here is his LinkedIn profile.

Robert Wilson

• Wilson is an executive vice president and is the chief information officer (CIO) at Allegiant.
• Wilson has been with Allegiant since 2009. Although no details on previous employers were provided on either LinkedIn or his company profile, Wilson has experience in software development and design in the airline industry.
• Here is his LinkedIn profile.

Tracy Tulle

• Tulle is the senior VP of flight crew operations.
• Tulle joined Allegiant in 2013, and prior to that she worked at Midwest Airlines and Comair. Her roles included flight attendant and VP of in-flight.
• Here is her LinkedIn profile.

1. Name

•  Scott DeAngelo is the CMO for Allegiant Air.

2. Online Profiles

• Mr DeAngelo has multiple online profiles. These are LinkedIn, ZoomInfo, Facebook and Twitter.

3. Educational Background

• CMO DeAngelo has a BA in Economics (1995) and a BA in Journalism (1995). Both these qualifications were obtained from the University of Southern California.
• He obtained an MS in Marketing (1996) from Northwestern University.

4. Previous Positions

• Mr DeAngelo was a Senior Business Analyst for Targetbase from 1997 to 1999.
• He worked as an Engagement Manager for McKinsey and Company from 2000 to 2004.
• Scott DeAngelo was Vice President of Marketing and Sales at Black Gaming between 2005 and 2007.
• In 2008, he was a Global Consulting Leader (Marketing Strategy) for Acxiom. He held the position until 2011.
• Following his departure from Acxiom, he worked for Worldpay Group. He worked as a Senior Vice President between the years 2011 and 2018.
• He is currently the CMO of Allegiant Air a position he held since March 2018.

5. Social Causes

• CMO DeAngelo is involved with the Make-A-Wish foundation to help children in need.

6. Family information

• Mr DeAngelo resides in Las Vegas and is married to Carole DeAngelo since 2009.
• He has 2 children.

Additional Information

• CMO DeAngelo has outstanding ability to use data and technology which allows Allegiant Air to serve clients better. In January 2020, he was appointed Executive Vice President while still working as CMO.

Research Strategy

Company Overview

• Allegiant Air is a Las Vegas-based airline focused on offering low-cost fairs on nonstop fleet while also providing its customers with travel-related products such as rental cars and hotel rooms. All the airline’s products are purchased only through its website.
• According to Allegiant Air’s 2018 annual report, the company has 3,901 full-time equivalent employees, which include 3,643 full-time and 516 part-time employees.
• The company’s headquarters is located in Las Vegas, Nevada, where its corporate office is located. The single office space occupies approximately 182,000 square feet on 11-acres property.
• Allegiant Air does not have satellite offices. However, it has leased several facilities in Florida and Las Vegas, which is used for training and other corporate functions.
• According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Allegiant Air generated revenues of approximately $1.67 billion in 2018, an increase from the previous year’s $1.511 billion. Revenues generated from passenger services, third party products, and fixed fee contracts were $1.53 billion, $58.01 million, and $50.29 million respectively.
•  PR Newswire also reported that the airline’s diluted earnings in the third quarter of 2019 were $3.06 per share.
• The airline does not sell its tickets through outside sales channels such as Expedia, Travelocity, or Orbitz to avoid charged fees by such websites. Instead, the airline customers are only able to purchase flight tickets at its airport ticket counters or on its website at a fee or through telephone reservation centers.

• Allegiant Air’s value proposition is that the company meet the needs of its customers through affordability, convenience, and valuable experience. The company posits that it “makes leisure travel affordable and convenient, and provides complete travel experience with great value and without all the hassle.”
• Repeated on its website and social media pages like Twitter and LinkedIn, the airline uses the tagline “Together We Fly” to show its compassionate care towards every customer. Allegiant Air boasts of flying over 80 million passengers since 2001 and ensures that every traveler's needs are met.

Research Strategy

Agency of Record

• Deveney was announced in 2019 as the agency partner of Allegiant Airlines.
• As the marketing agency for Allegiant, Deveney develops and manages Allegiant Air social media marketing campaigns and promote the airline through community engagements and activations in key markets.

Allegiant Air Marketing Campaigns

Together We Fly Campaign

• Allegiant Airline launched the "Together We Fly" campaign across social media, TV, and online platforms. The campaign aimed to promote the airline by highlighting its passenger capacity and destinations Allegiant covers.
• The Airline used the hashtag #TogetherWeFly across its social media accounts.
• Television commercial for the campaign ran till 2019.

Online Creatives

• Allegiant Air employed the use of different banners on its website and online channels to promote the company's products and services.
•  The creatives include discounts, seasonal promotions, and the company's value propositions to attract customers.

Marketing Spend

• For FY 2018, Allegiant Air sales and marketing expenses amounted to $16.8 million. 
• The airline's marketing spend is presented as a combination of its sales and marketing expenses and does not provide a breakdown to include only its marketing spend.
• The marketing expenses encompasses its advertising, promotional expenses, sponsorships.

Overview

• Established in 1997, Allegiant Airlines is certified by the US Department of Transportation (DOT) as a "Scheduled Air Carrier."
• The airline is authorized to operate scheduled and charter flights throughout the US. Allegiant is also permitted to operate charter service to Canada and Mexico.
• The company focuses on leisure travelers from under-served markets representing small and medium-sized cities in the US.
• The operating income for the company stood at $243 million in 2018. In Q1 2019, the company continued its streak of the 65th consecutive profitable quarter.
• Since 2005, the company has managed to sell third party services valued at $1.3 billion. Services include over 10 million rental car days and 6.5 million hotel room nights, among others.

Business Model

• Since 1999, Allegiant Airlines has been connecting travelers from small and medium cities to world-class leisure destinations with its low-cost, nonstop flights. This has enabled the company to gain a strong foothold in its servicing cities at lower operating costs.
• The company offers a simple product selection to achieve low operating costs. For example, the company operates only nonstop flights with no code-sharing with other carriers. Further, the company offers only a single class cabin without any perks like free-food or lounge access, and the airlines do not offer cargo or airmail services.
• The company's core business model efficiently manages seating capacity and flight frequency during high and low traffic demand periods. In 2018, the peak demand period in March averaged 8.3 system block hours per aircraft per day, while in the low demand period of September, the company averaged 4.8 system block hours per aircraft per day.
• Allegiant Airlines does not feature its inventory on third-party distribution sites like Sabre, Expedia, or Priceline. Instead, the company primarily sells its tickets through a direct distribution system. In 2018, about 93.8% of tickets were sold through its official airline website.
• To maximize its crew and maintenance efficiency, the company prioritizes its scheduled service flights to return to base each night.
• Allegiant Airlines offers third party product offerings to customers like hotel rooms, car rental, and airport shuttle service. The company has an exclusive agreement with Enterprise Holdings Inc. for its car-rental package with air travel; it generated about 64% of the third party services revenue in 2018.
• In 2018, the operating expense per available seat mile was 9.56¢ while the fuel costs and labor costs represented the highest operating expense categories at 31.3% and 29% of total operating costs, respectively.

Routes

• The company's service across 450 routes include 122 cities serving 42 states and Puerto Rico. The airlines cater to 99 origination cities and 23 leisure destinations.
• Allegiant serves over 450 routes across the country, with about 75% of routes having no competition. Further, the company has identified nearly 600 additional routes, of which 90% have no direct services.

Aircraft

• In 2019, the company's fleet included 79 Airbus aircraft, of which 74 aircraft are owned by the company, and 13 are newly purchased aircraft.
• The company primarily operates used aircraft for its operations. In 2018, the company fleet comprised 32 Airbus A319 aircraft and 44 Airbus A320's. Alternatively, the company retired 18 MD80 aircraft in 2018 and added 24 Airbus aircraft.
• In 2018, the company spent $350 million on capital expenditure, primarily for purchasing aircraft. The company plans to increase its fleet size to 93 by adding 17 aircraft in 2019. The company plans to spend about $400 million for additional aircraft.

Passengers

• In 2018, the airlines carried nearly 14 million passengers, and the revenue passenger miles (RPMs) stood at 12.30 billion miles.
• In 2018, the available seat miles (ASMs) stood at 14.89 billion miles, with a load factor of 82.6%.

Ticket Prices

• In 2019, the airlines reported that its base airfares were less than half of the average cost of a domestic round trip ticket from other airlines.
• In 2018, the average fares for the airlines were as follows:
• Average fare for scheduled service: $67.01 
• Average fare for ancillary air-related charges: $45.71 
• Average fare for third party products: $4.27 
• Average total fare: $116.99 
• Average distance traveled by scheduled travelers: 875 miles

Financial Overview

• Operating Revenue

• Total operating revenues: $1,667.44 million (100%)
• Passenger revenue: $1,533.70 million (91.97%)
• Third party products: $58.06 million (3.48%)
• Fixed fee contract: $50.28 million (3.01%)
• Other: $25.40 million (1.46%)

• Operating Expenses

• Total operating expenses: $1,423.99 million (100%)
• Aircraft fuel: $445.81 million (31.30%)
• Salary and benefits: $413.89 million (29.06%)
• Station operations: $161.02 million (11.39%)
• Depreciation and amortization: $129.35 million (9.08%)
• Maintenance and repairs: $99.02 million (6.95%)
• Sales and marketing: $73.51 million (5.16%)
• Aircraft lease rentals: $868,000 (0.06%)
• Other: $100.51 million (7.05%)

Troubles

• Allegiant Air is facing stiff competition in the airline industry, prompting it to cancel some of its routes. The company canceled its twice-weekly flight out of St. George to Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport due to profitability concerns arising from stiff competition from American Airlines.

Safety record

• By 2015 and 2016, Allegiant jets, such as MD-80s, raised safety concerns for being 22 years old, a decade older than the industrial average. A fine totaling to $63,750 was levied against the airline regarding maintenance issues going back to 2003. Although the company retired the MD-80s, the FAA proposes a fine of $715,000 against them for its non-compliance to maintenance standards. Currently, the company's jets are 13 years old and are entirely made up of Airbus A319s and A320s. 
• The latest analysis of U. S. government-reported data, in the category of flight problems complaints, show that Allegiant Air had the highest flight problem complaints involving disabled passengers, at 22.5%. However, the report also reported Allegiant air as one of the airlines with the lowest canceled flights and the number of mishandled bags at 0.5% and 2.0 per 1,000, respectively.
• Additionally, a new global safety study on airlines for 2020 ranked Allegiant as one of the safest airlines in the world. Allegiant Air received a four-star rating together with Spirit and PenAir (a commuter carrier in Alaska).

Plans for more planes, routes or cities

• Allegiant Air revealed an expansion plan in Sarasota, Florida. The nine new Sarasota routes will operate year-round, while the New Orleans-Louisville route will fly seasonally.
• On February 12, 2019, Allegiant Air announced the introduction of nonstop flights from Columbus to Charleston, from June 7 to August 12 of the same year.
• The company announced the opening of 19 new seasonal routes that are to fly bi-weekly. Allegiant’s bases at Destin, Florida, and Nashville, Tennessee, were to receive seven and six new routes, respectively. The other beneficiaries of the company’s new expansion were Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Savannah, Georgia, Columbus, Ohio, and Knoxville, Tennessee.
• In a one-of-a-kind sponsorship deal, Allegiant Air partnered with Minor League Baseball to become their official airline. The sponsorship deal was intended for Allegiant to reinforce its commitment to the community it serves.
• Allegiant Air had plans to have two Airbuses stationed at LVIA by the start of the year 2020.
• Allegiant Air announced a historic expansion with its plan to introduce 44 new seasonal nonstop routes. The new routes, which attract fares as low as $33, will fly to Boston, Chicago Midway, and Houston. Other added services included Midwest and East Coast airports, including Nashville, Tennessee, Pittsburgh, Memphis, Austin, and Texas.
• Allegiant air revealed plans to introduce non-stop routes from Nashville International Airport with one-way fare as low as $44. The plan was to materialize on February 13, 2020.

Controversy With C-Suite Management

• The company's executives have come under criticism following the company's expansion into ventures unrelated to airline travel. These ventures include a 22-acre resort in Port Charlotte, Florida, two arcades in Utah and Michigan, and a golf-course-management software business.
• According to the Las Vegas Review Journal, a lot of airline and financial analysts, such as Joseph DeNardi of Stifle Nicolaus Corp and Duane Pfennigwerth of Evercore ISI, and investors have criticized the initiatives, questioning the realignment of the company's capital and focus on non-air services.
• According to the article, Maurice J. Gallagher, the company's CEO, has been known to sign lucrative deals with the airline through his side projects, which are authorized by the airline's audit committee, as related parties.

Social Media Channels

• An examination of Allegiant Air's website found that they have a social media presence on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

Facebook

• Allegiant Air has 266,133 people who follow them on Facebook and 270,116 people who like the page. By default, when someone likes a page, they automatically become a follower. However, users have the option to change this, so although there is likely overlap in the numbers, there are likely people that only do one or the other.
• A scan of the company's Facebook page for the last six months found that, on average, posts are made once per day.
•  This creative celebrating Valentine's Day, and providing a reminder of a reason to fly, was posted on 2/14/20; this creative was posted on 2/11/20 and announced new routes to Las Vegas and San Diego; and this one from 1/14/20 highlighted new routes and cities.
• The majority of the posts on Facebook are simply pictures where Allegiant highlights something about their service or their customers.

Instagram

• Allegiant Air has 27,300 followers on Instagram.
• A scan of the Instagram page found that the company posts about every one to two days.
• As with Facebook, many of the posts on Instagram are pictures with brief comments to possibly start a conversation with customers.
• However, a few examples of creatives on Instagram are this video for Valentine's Day, this post playing off the "LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Tinder" meme, and one announcing new nonstop flights.

Twitter

• Allegiant has 57,900 followers on Twitter.
• Similarly to Facebook, the company posts on Twitter about daily. Additionally, many of the posts are the same as those on Facebook and Instagram.
• This post on Twitter is the same one used on Facebook and Instagram, as is this one.

YouTube

• Allegiant has 1,179 subscribers on YouTube, by far the lowest of their social media accounts.
• In the past 12 months, 12 videos have been uploaded to their Facebook page, which averages out to about one post per month.
• The most recent video was a video called Trading Places, where Allegiant employees changed places with Knights hockey players.

Digital Banners

• Although we did not find any digital banners specific to the creatives on Allegiant's social media sites, we did find a few banner examples.
• Several examples of display ads and banners that have been run by Allegiant can be seen here. However, only the "Nonstop flights and low fares from Allegiant" display ad is currently active.
• A search of the Facebook Ad database also confirmed that Allegiant is not currently running any ads on Facebook or Instagram, while a search of Twitter's Ad Transparency database confirmed the same for Twitter.

WHAT THEY ARE DOING WELL

• According to the Ahrefs backlinks report on the Allegiant Air website, it contains a total of 392,704 backlinks of which 85% are dofollow; and 7,617 referring domains of which 80% are dofollow. This is a clear indication of great content on the site that other sites find relevant and useful to link to. Moreover, backlinks have a significant influence on the overall domain rating which increases the website's chances of receiving more organic traffic.
•  Keyword and Traffic report by Ubersuggest shows that the website receives approximately 1,923,997 organic monthly traffic. This signifies a strong overall SEO/SEM strategy by the company.

•  The Ubersuggest report also shows that the Allegiant Air domain score is 76 out of 100. This is a great score and translates to domain authority, popularity and strength in its niche. The high score results from the company implementing an effective backlinking strategy.
• Allegiant Air's website ranks for approximately 396,072 organic keywords. The top three keywords are 'allegiant airlines' with 2.7 million visitors per month; 'allegiant air' with 2.7 million visitors per month; and 'allegiant flights' with 60,500 visitors per month. The results show that the company has a great keyword research and utilization strategy throughout the website.
• There is a good use of meta or title tags and meta descriptions in the website's pages. The meta titles have an average of 73 characters, compared to 70 characters recommended by search engines. The meta descriptions of the web pages have an average of 159 characters, compared to 160 characters recommended by the search engines.
• The website effectively utilizes heading tags, H1 and H2 headings. Example of H1 heading used is 'Plan your trip'; examples of H2 headings used include New Reservations, Follow us, Company, Manage Travel, and Terms & Legal. This contributes to SEO and help search engine crawling.

WHAT THEY ARE NOT DOING WELL

• The Allegiant Air website's speed is relatively low. According to Google’s PageSpeed Insights, the website's speed on mobile has a score of 9 out of 100 in the past 30 days, when compared to other pages. On the other hand, the site's speed on a desktop is average with a score of 52 out of 100 in the past 30 days, compared to other pages. This is particularly critical since most users or traffic is through mobile devices.

• The company's website does not use SEO friendly URLs. This means that the URLs do not contain topic-relevant keywords and contain no special characters. This may affect the ease with which the website is crawled hence affecting the SEO score.
• The website's pages contain images with missing 'alt' attributes. The alt attribute helps the user and crawlers best identify the subject of the image used through the use of keywords, in case the image source is broken or the internet connection is slow.

OTHER INSIGHTS

• Although it is not required for SEO/SEM purposes, it is notable that the website has a sitemap file. A sitemap helps the search engines to crawl a website more intelligently by listing all the web pages and providing metadata for each.
• The company's website uses a "robots.txt" file. The file instructs the crawlers on what to be crawled and what to leave out. Although it is also a requirement for SEO, it helps the search engines to crawl the site more intelligently.

Amount of Money Allegiant Air Spends on Media

• A 2018 Allegiant Travel (owner of Allegiant Air) annual report stated that Allegiant Travel's 2018 operating expenses which include sales and marketing expenses such as advertising and promotional costs, was $1,423,988,000.
• Although the report did not specifically state how much the company specifically spends on sales and marketing, it stated that the expense for 2018 increased $16.8 million which is 29.7% compared to 2017.
• In addition, the report also failed to state the specific media spend of Allegiant Air. Nevertheless, according to MediaRadar, Allegiant Air spent under $100 million on digital and national television campaigns in 2019.

Where Allegiant Air is Spending Money in Media

• According to a 2018 Allegiant Travel (owner of Allegiant Air) annual report, the company stated that it makes use of both digital and traditional media. From the report, Allegiant air uses digital advertising to market its products and services to consumers. However, when entering new markets, the airline makes use of local print publications, radio, and/or television.
• Allegiant Air launched its first-ever national television advertising campaign in September 2013. The ads were also released on social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.
• The campaign was titled "Here's the Deal" and it was meant to entertain consumers while at the same time educate them about Allegiant Air and how it helps to save money. Looking at most of the airline's current digital adverts, they are also serving the same purpose.
• Allegiant Air launched another national advertising campaign in 2018 titled “Together We Fly” to showcase passengers whose lives have been positively affected by the airline. One of the stories in the campaign is about a mother who has flown from Iowa to Florida to watch her son play college baseball more than 60 times using Allegiant flights.
• Another ad in the same campaign focused on a long-distance couple staying in Las Vegas and Missoula, Montana who were able to stay connected through Allegiant Air flights. In addition to TV, these ads also run online and on social media platforms.
• Additionally, Allegiant Air also named Deveney as its new agency partner in 2018 to provide support for its daily social media management. Other than managing, Deveney was also tasked with developing, executing social media campaigns on behalf of the airline, and elevating it further through community engagements and activations in key markets.
• According to MediaRadar, Allegiant Air has recently purchased a Primetime Ads TV ad, placed a direct ad on the NHRA website, and a programmatic ad in priceline.com. The airline has also partnered with DoubleClick which provides ad management and ad serving solutions that help companies manage the entire scope of digital advertising and ten other providers within the past twelve months.
• Three recent Allegiant Air advertisements ran on Priceline Online, Oregon Live, and FOX Sports 1. Moreover, the airline also took to radio airwaves in 2019 something that is considered rare for commercial airlines and in the top 100 tally which tracks national radio advertising in 85 markets, it was the only travel company. All these clearly outlines how the airline is spending on both traditional and digital media.

Out-of-Home Advertising

• In addition to spending on digital media, Allegiant Air is also venturing to OOH advertising. With hopes of tapping into new and bigger markets, the airline got into a 30-year deal in 2019 with the National Football League (NFL).
• Allegiant Air agreed to put its name on the new football stadium in Las Vegas where Raiders are expected to play in 2020 after they move from Oakland.
• The Allegiant Stadium is a 1.75 million-square-foot venue and the fact that the NFL is still the most-watched sport in the US after last year's NFL games accounted for 46 of the top 50 most-watched shows on television, Allegiant Air hopes that this move will boost its recognition.
• Although some larger airlines such as American Airlines have been leaving the stadium naming business saying that it is not worth the price, the chief marketing officer of Allegiant Air, Scott DeAngelo, stated that the airline needs NFL’s reach to gain recognition.
• Mr. DeAngelo further said that the airline is aware that no one ever looks at the signs on stadiums and buy a ticket just for that. Therefore, they hope that people will recognize the company from the stadium’s name and then pay attention later when the airline uses other means such as radio, TV, or emails to advertise.

Research Strategy

Spirit Airlines

•  This link is to Spirit Airlines' website.
• Spirit Airlines is a competitor to Allegiant because it's an ultra-low-cost carrier (as is Allegiant) and it was expressly described as a competitor to Allegiant by USA Today.

Frontier Airlines

•  This link is to Frontier Airlines' website.
• Frontier Airlines is a competitor to Allegiant because it's an ultra-low-cost carrier (as is Allegiant) and it was expressly described as a competitor to Allegiant by USA Today.

Sun Country Airlines

•  This link is to Sun Country Airlines' website.
• Sun Country Airlines is a competitor to Allegiant because it's an ultra-low-cost carrier (as is Allegiant) and it was described as a competitor to Allegiant in a Yahoo Finance article.

JetBlue

•  This link is to JetBlue's website.
• JetBlue is a competitor to Allegiant because it's a low-cost carrier (and Allegiant is an ultra-low-cost carrier) and it was listed as one of Allegiant's main competitors by Statista.

Southwest Airlines

•  This link is to Southwest Airlines' website.
• Southwest Airlines is a competitor to Allegiant because it's a low-cost carrier (and Allegiant is an ultra-low-cost carrier), it was listed as one of Allegiant's main competitors by Statista, and it was expressly described as a competitor in a January 2020 article in Biz Journals titled "Allegiant Air entering Chicago market, giving Southwest low-fare competition."

Swoop

•  This link is to Swoop's website.
• Swoop is a competitor to Allegiant because it's an ultra-low-cost carrier (as is Allegiant) and a 2019 Reuters article stated "20 percent to 30 percent of Swoop’s travelers to warm destinations such as Las Vegas or Mexico are 'repatriated Canadians' who used to cross over the border to fly from U.S. airports on low cost rivals like Allegiant Airlines and Spirit Airlines."

Alaska Airlines

•  This link is to Alaska Airlines' website.
• Alaska Airlines is a competitor to Allegiant because it was described as such in a 2019 article published by Airline Reporter and a 2019 article published by Skift.

Hawaiian Airlines

•  This link is to Hawaiian Airlines' website.
• Hawaiian Airlines is a competitor to Allegiant because Hawaiian Airlines' CEO cited Allegiant as a competitor.

Spirit Airlines

Competitive Advantage

• Spirit Airlines is the largest low-cost airline in America. Its strong low-cost focus gives it an enduring competitive advantage in the airline industry. Its remarkably lean and resilient business model makes it tremendously hard for competitors to beat.
• Spirit Airlines' main competitive advantage is its relative cost advantage, through which it can offer cheap fares profitably. In 2019, it had one of the lowest unit operating costs in the US airline industry.
• In challenging economic or competitive environments, Spirit's low unit costs and relatively steady non-ticket revenues permit it to price its fares profitably at levels where its primary competitors cannot.
• According to Forbes, the airline also has the most fuel-efficient fleet in the US. As such, it should be able to handle any increase in cost stemming from higher fuel prices.
• Although Spirit Airlines has doubled sales over the past five years, there is still has much room for further growth as its market penetration in the US is still very low when compared to the penetration of low-cost airlines like Ryanair in Europe.
• Recently, the airline received global recognition. At the CAPA World Aviation Summit, it was named the "Low-Cost Airline of the Year." Also, Flight Global named it the "most on-time Low-Cost Airline," while Air Transport World named it "Value Airline of the Year."

Strengths

• For years, the airline has been making a double-digit return on invested capital, and a double-digit rate of increase in revenue.
• Due to the extreme cost-consciousness of air passengers, low-cost carriers like Spirit Airlines have been gaining market share by attracting the passengers of legacy carriers, and have generally become more profitable than the legacy carriers.
• Spirit Airlines flies only Airbus A320 family aircraft, giving the airline significant operational and cost advantages over airlines that fly several types of aircraft. Using only one aircraft type allows Spirit to avoid the incremental costs associated with training crews across multiple aircraft types.
• The commonality among Airbus single-aisle aircraft allows Spirit to enjoy the benefits of a single-type aircraft fleet and "the flexibility to match the capacity and range of the aircraft to the demands of each route."

Weaknesses

• Due to several one-off events in 2019, it is expected that costs per available seat mile will rise temporarily by about 5% year-over-year. Also, the airline's share price has swiftly become low-priced in absolute and relative terms.
• The main temporary factors driving the rise in cost include a runway closure in the airline's most important airport (Ft. Lauderdale), bad weather, and its addition of more short routes, which will hurt unit costs.
• Between January and September 2019, Spirit's share price declined by over 40% from $64/share to $37/share.
• As of September 2019, Spirit's price-earnings ratio of 7.0x and its record low price-to-book ratio of 1.2x made its shares to be trading as though Spirit was a no-growth company without the capacity to be profitable.
• According to The Points Guy's 2019 survey, Spirit Airlines went lower on the list of "best airlines," for being "the stingiest 28-inch average seat pitch of all the airlines."

Latest Publicly Available Revenue

• Total operating revenue for 2019: $3.83 billion 

Geographical Scope

• Spirit Airlines serves 77 destinations in 16 countries across the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean. These Latin American and Caribbean destinations include Peru, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, El Salvador, Mexico, Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico.

Frontier Airlines

Competitive Advantage

• In 2015 and 2018, Frontier Airlines received the Federal Aviation Administration's Diamond Award for maintenance excellence. In both years, The International Council on Clean Transportation named Frontier Airlines the industry's most fuel-efficient airline due to its "superior technology and operational efficiencies."
• Following the announcement of Frontier Airlines' "100th destination from Denver International Airport (DEN) with non-stop service to Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport (XNA)," the airline became the only non-stop carrier on eleven of its routes from Denver.
• Recently, Frontier Airlines revamped its loyalty program, making it even more competitive in the industry. It aggressively introduced elite benefits that make it possible for its top customers to make all their tickets refundable.
• It also integrated its credit card product (The Frontier Airlines World MasterCard) into its loyalty program to ensure "that every dollar spent earns an elite qualifying model."

Strengths

• According to Wallethub's 2019 list of best and worst airlines in America, which is based on its analysis of 2018 flight data from the US Department of Transportation using 15 key metrics, Frontier Airlines was the cheapest airline.
• Apart from its low fares, more than 90% of those in the lower 48 states are within 90 minutes away from one of the airline's non-stop destinations from Denver.
• Over the last five years, there has been a 52% drop in Frontier Airlines' average fare from Denver, and its service allows customers to customize their journeys according to their budget and needs.
• With the addition of three new non-stop routes from Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) to Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles, Frontier Airlines now offers 24 non-stop routes from PHL.

Weaknesses

• Wallethub's 2019 list, which included 12 airlines, showed that Frontier Airlines was the worst airline in America, with an overall score of 30.42; compared to Alaska Airlines, which was the best with a score of 63.52.
• It was the airline with the most canceled flights and involuntary denied boardings. Frontier Airlines also had "the highest number of aviation incidents and accidents per total number of flight operations," as well as the most consumer complaints. It was the least reliable airline on the list.
• Similarly, according to The Points Guy's 2019 Best Airlines Annual Report, Frontier Airlines had one of the weakest onboard offerings and was last on the list due to its poor on-time record.

Latest Publicly Available Annual Revenue

•  Total operating revenue for 2018: $2.16 billion 

Geographical Scope

• Based in Denver, Frontier Airlines serves 106 destinations across the United States as well as 23 destinations in Mexico, one in Canada (Calgary), three in the Dominican Republic (Punta Cana, Santiago de los Caballeros, and Santo Domingo), one in El Salvador (San Salvador), Guatemala, one in Jamaica (Montego Bay), and one in Puerto Rico (San Juan).

Sun Country Airlines

1. Competitive Advantage

• Sun Country Airlines key competitive advantage is its low cost structure relative to the other carriers.

2. Strengths

• Sun Country Airlines is passenger friendly as it has reduced fees for booking changes for passengers looking to change or cancel travel plans and eliminating them altogether for travel at least 60 days out.
• Another strength of Sun Country Airlines is that it operates mainly on seasonal leisure routes to destinations in the USA, Caribbean and in the United Kingdom.
• Sun Country Airlines has also maintained a strong focus on the U.S. market.
• Sun Country Airlines has demonstrated its strength through its all economy seat arrangements in its airlines.

3. Weaknesses

• Sun Country Airlines has been struggling with weak pricing as they are unable to command revenue premium for superior product offering.

•  Operating Cost is a weakness for Sun Country Airlines which has lead to decrease in the net income by -11.11% in 2019.

4. Revenue

• In 2019, Sun Country Airlines generated $677 million in annual revenue.

5. Geographic Scope

• Sun Country Airlines serves 38 domestic destinations in the United States and international destinations to countries which include Mexico, Aruba, Bahamas, Belize, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Puerto Rica.

JetBlue

1. Competitive Advantage

• JetBlue key competitive advantage is its low cost structure than the larger network competitors.

• Another competitive advantage is its high value geography as it operates in some of the largest travel markets in the United States.

2. Strengths

• JetBlue has strong dealer community and has built a culture among distributor & dealers to promote company’s products.

• Another strength of JetBlue is its strong distribution network that can reach majority of its potential market.

• They have high customer satisfaction as they provide services like in-flight entertainment, free luggage, free change fees, and cancellation.

3. Weaknesses

• JetBlue’s organization structure has limited its expansion in adjacent product segments.

• Another weakness of JetBlue is that its profitability ratio and Net Contribution percentage are below the industry average.

• The company is weak in product demand forecasting which has lead to higher rate of missed opportunities compare to its competitors.

4. Revenue

• In 2018, JetBlue generated $7.7 billion in annual revenue.

5. Geographic Scope

• JetBlue serves 64 domestic destinations and international destinations in 27 countries that include countries like Mexico, Bahamas, Barbados, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Colombia, Jamaica among others.

Southwest Airlines

1. Competitive Advantage

• Southwest Airlines' competitive advantage lies within its generic strategy of cost leadership. The strategy allows the company to offer low costs and prices to its consumers. Southwest Airlines has achieved this by minimizing operation costs.
• The business model embraced by Southwest Airlines has contributed profoundly to brand loyalty from consumers.

2. Strengths

• Southwest Airlines also offers one of the best reward programs for consumers. Partnering with Chase Bank, the airline provides its clients with credit cards, where they can accumulate points and redeem them for future flights.
• Southwest Airlines is a people-oriented organization. As such, the airline recruits friendly, approachable, and team-oriented employees. The employees embody the airline's brand message and focus on optimizing the customer experience.
• Additionally, Southwest Airlines has flexible cancellation policies, where a customer can cancel flights up to 30 minutes prior to the departure time, and the flight fees are available for future flights.
• Southwest Airlines has a strong brand that enables the company to penetrate new markets and appeal to target consumers.

3. Weaknesses

• One weakness of Southwest Airlines is its operational scope. Most of the company's operations are in the US. This limits its revenue sources as the market scope is limited.
• Southwest Airlines depends highly on Boeing as its leading aircraft. This poses a potential challenge to the airline's business in case of disagreements with the aircraft company.
• Southwest Airlines also relies on passenger revenues for profit. Only 1% of the revenue is gained from freight charges. This situation could affect the company if there is a reduction in passenger traffic.

4. Revenue

• The airline, as of 2019, has a revenue of $22.428 billion, which is a 2.11% increase from 2018.

5. Geographical Scope

• Southwest Airlines covers regions across the United States. Among its popular destinations include Atlanta, Baltimore, Washington, Burbank, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Oakland, Orlando, Phoenix, Sacramento, San Diego, and San Jose.

Swoop Airlines

1. Competitive Advantage

• Swoop is the leading ultra-low-fare carrier in Canada. This has seen the company attain two million passengers since its launch in June 2018.
• Swoop also boast of being an innovative airline, which contributes to its initiatives of making travel accessible and efficient for its clients.
• Recently, the airline emerged as the top start-up airline of the year during the CAPA 2019 Aviation Awards for Excellence.

2. Strengths

• Through its unbundled products and services, Swoop creates an opportunity for its clients to take charge of their costs and customize their experiences.
• Swoop uses the modern fleet of Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft, "equipped with in-seat power and Wi-Fi connectivity. "
• Swoop has allowed clients to use its mobile application to book flights, check-in, and track flights.

3. Weaknesses

• The geographical expanse of Canada posses a challenge to Swoop. This geographical outline means that Swoop covers longer flights and gains low productivity in a day.
• According to Skytrax reviews, customers have complained of the value for money offered by Swoop. The airline has received a rating of 4/10 from 399 reviews. Such a rating could affect the company's market expansion.
• The company is yet to achieve high brand equity. According to its CEO, Steven Greenway, most Canadians are hesitant about the airline.

4. Revenue

• As of the first quarter of 2020, Swoop Airlines has a revenue of $9.8 million.

5. Geographical Scope

• Swoop serves 23 domestic and international destinations in Canada, the United States, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

Alaska Airlines

1. Competitive Advantage

• Alaska Airlines' "key competitive advantage is [its] lower cost structure relative to the legacy carriers."
• In a 2019 filing, Alaska Airlines stated that it "offer[s] the highest guest relevance of any carrier from the West Coast, with a 20% lower cost structure than legacy carriers."

2. Strengths

• In a 2019 study conducted by J.D. Power, "Alaska received the highest ranking in six out of seven categories among traditional airlines: aircraft; check-in; cost and fees; boarding/deplaning/baggage; flight crew; and reservation."
• Another strength of Alaska Airlines is that it "has a very loyal customer base."
•  Customer service is a strength of Alaska Airlines. As one source explained, "[t]he customer delight of people who have flown with Alaska Airlines is a well-known fact and this is because of the superior in-flight services delivered by the airline."
• Alaska Airlines has also maintained a strong focus on the U.S. market.
• Alaska Airlines has demonstrated strength through its "[s]teady and [c]onsistent growth."

3. Weaknesses

•  In-flight entertainment is a weakness of Alaska Airlines. Reviews from 665 Alaska Airlines customers on Skytrax gave Alaska Airlines a 2/5 rating for in-flight entertainment. That weakness also aligns with an article that stated "[i]n-flight entertainment is one aspect where Alaska has been middling."
• Another weakness of Alaska Airlines was revealed by the fact that "Alaska Airlines dropped from first place in 2017 and 2018 to fourth place in 2019" in "[t]he 2019 Airline Quality Ranking."
• Alaska has been struggling with weak Hawaii-route pricing.
• Another weakness of Alaska Airlines is its "dependency on West Coast markets."
•  Baggage mishandling has been a recent weakness for Alaska Airlines. A 2019 article in Komo News stated that for Alaska Airlines, "[m]ore flights were delayed and considerably more bags were mishandled." An example of that weakness was that on a single day in December 2019, Alaska Airlines stated that it had "[a] backlog . . . that prevented many bags from being loaded on flights ultimately causing our guests to arrive at their destinations without their checked bags."

4. Revenue

• In 2019, Alaska Airlines generated $8.781 billion in annual revenue.

5. Geographic Scope

• Alaska Airlines flies to four countries and "over 115+ destinations."
•  Those countries are the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Costa Rica.

Hawaiian Airlines

1. Competitive Advantage

• As its name implies, Hawaiian Airlines' competitive advantage involves its servicing of the Hawaiian air travel market.
• On its website, the airline states "[n]ow in its 90th year of continuous service, Hawaiian Airlines is Hawaii's biggest and longest-serving airline."
• To that end, the airline exudes Hawaiian culture through the fact that "all of the flight attendants are local to Hawaii, dress in Hawaiian clothing and offer native dining/drink options. The objective is to immerse travelers in the Hawaiian vacation experience before they arrive in Hawaii."

2. Strengths

•  On-time flights are a major strength of Hawaiian Airlines. The airline's website states that "Hawaiian Airlines has led all U.S. carriers in on-time performance for each of the past 14 years as reported by the U.S. DOT."
•  Customer service is another strength of Hawaiian Airlines. In 2018, Newsweek named it "Best U.S. Airline Customer Service" in 2018.
• Flight boarding, in-flight comfort, food, entertainment, and the flight crew are strengths of Hawaiian Airlines, as the airline was named the best in each of those categories in "Kayak['s] Best Airlines Awards" in 2018.

3. Weaknesses

•  Profit margin is a weakness for Hawaiian Airlines. A 2019 article stated that "profit margin has plunged as the airline [Hawaiian] has faced a surge in competition on West Coast-Hawaii routes, a downturn in demand for inter-island flights, and rising fuel and labor costs."
• Hawaiian Airlines is facing increased pressure from Southwest Airlines with regard to flights to and from Hawaii, as Southwest recently entered the Hawaii market.
• Another weakness of Hawaiian Airlines is that its business is largely dependent on the Hawaiian market.
• In-flight entertainment is a weakness for Hawaiian Airlines, as it received a 2/5 rating for such, based on 391 customer reviews.

4. Revenue

• In 2019, Hawaiian Airlines generated $2,832,228,000 in annual revenue.

5. Geographic Scope

• Hawaiian Airlines flies to the following location in Hawaii: Oahu, Maui, Hawaii Island, Kauai, Lanai, and Molokai.
• Other than Hawaii, Hawaiian Airlines flies to the following U.S. locations: Las Vegas, Boston, Long Beach, Los Angeles, New York City, Oakland, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, and Seattle.
• Outside the U.S., Hawaiian Airlines flies to the following locations: Auckland, Brisbaine, Fukuoka, Osaka, Pago Pago, Papeete, Sapporo, Seoul, Sydney, and Tokyo.

Strengths

• Operational efficiency: Allegiant utilizes the 8tree's dentCHECK tool to inspect and report any damages during the aircraft induction process. A study conducted to determine the impact of the tool on operations indicates that it leads to 87% time-savings compared to traditional manual methods. Additionally, the airline's on-time performance has improved from 71.4% in 2017 to 78.9% in 2019.
• Strong financial performance: In the first half of 2019, Allegiant Air's operating margin was over 20%. It also registered a surge in profit margins in the third quarter, from 7% in 2018 to 17% in 2019.
• Accelerating profits, coupled with significant progress with the company's ambitious initiatives (such as fleet modernization and expansion into new markets), led to considerable gains in shares amounting to 73.7% in 2019.
• Strong and steady growth: In the past six years since 2014, Allegiant has nearly doubled its size, with close to 18 million seats in 2019 compared to 12.5 million in 2016.
• Extensive geographical coverage: As of 2019, Allegiant Air had 129 destinations and 476 routes across the United States that it serves.
• Low-cost structure advantage: Allegiant Air is profiting from its low cost structure, by offering cut-rate fares and filling planes close to capacity, focusing mostly on vacation spots. Through this strategy, the airline has been able to attract passengers "underserved markets."
• Allegiant earns additional revenue from ancillary services such as advanced seat bookings band food and refreshments on flights. Other services such as vacation package deals, including hotels and car rentals, as part of its online booking system not only boost its income but also sells to specific customer segments that demand such services.

Weaknesses

• Bad safety Records: Allegiant Air's reputation was tarnished in 2018 (with impact felt to date), after a report emerged, citing over 100 serious mechanical incidents (such as rapid descents, hydraulic leaks, mid-air engine failures, flight control malfunctions, smoke and fumes in the cabin, and aborted take-offs) recorded in 2016 and 2017. The problems were linked to the company's fleet of old airplanes.
• The fact that Allegiant does not offer in-flight entertainment and WIFI services is not attractive to such passengers who are more about the experience while onboard.
• Low ratings: Out of a possible 5, Allegiant Air has a rating of 3.5 from 9,453 reviews on Trip Advisor, with some people citing flight cancellations, delays and compensation as issues of concern. According to Airline Ratings, Allegiant Air's safety rating is 4 out of 7, while its product rating is 2.5 out of 5.

Opportunities

• Fleet Modernization: In response to critics' claims that Allegiant's airplanes were too old, and as part of its strategy going forward, the airline has embarked on a fleet modernization. With a modernized fleet, the company can consider creating a better experience for passengers by introducing things such as in-flight entertainment and WIFI services.
• Expansion: To maintain its growth trajectory, Allegiant is set to continue expanding into new markets. This month, the company has announced its interest in 9 new routes the US West Coast. Through this strategy, it will grow its coverage, increase its passenger numbers, and improve its profits alike.

Threats

• As labor costs surge and fuel prices continue to rise, Allegiant faces the challenge of balancing between maintaining its low-cost structure and remaining profitable.
• The cost-cutting measures and other strategies put in place by Allegiant may give rise to employee unrest that interrupt operations and consequently damage the brand's reputation. Between 2018 and 2019, Allegiant was involved in a court battle with its pilots who moved to court over what they termed as "sham scheduling system."
• In the past, Allegiant has majorly focused on second-tier markets where competition is less stiff. However, it is set to face stiff competition in the larger markets where it plans to expand.