Allegiant Travel Company have reported the following financial results for the third quarter 2019, as well as comparisons to the prior year:

“I couldn’t be happier about our post-fleet transition results with our third consecutive quarter of airline margin expansion,” stated Maurice J. Gallagher, Jr., chairman and CEO of Allegiant Travel Company. “This is our 67^th consecutive profitable quarter and we’ve nearly tripled EPS versus the same period a year ago, despite having eight fewer aircraft in the current fleet. Airline operating margin increased ten-plus points to almost 18 percent in the quarter. Even without the year-over-year benefits from lower fuel cost per gallon, our airline operating margins would have been greater than 15 percent, almost twice as high as last year.

“We have discussed a number of times previously how our model post-transition will remain intact. After three full quarters, I am comfortable stating not only is it intact, it is actually better today than with the MD-80 fleet. Our revenue per aircraft is greater, and we have the ability to fly profitably further down the off-peak curve, thereby allowing us greater fleet utilization both in our weekly cycle and in our peak months. As an example, our average daily block hour per aircraft in the past three years, 2016-2018 averaged 6.2 hours in Q3. This year we averaged 7.4 hours, a 19.4 percent increase in utilization. We are in an excellent place in the history of the company. We have spent the past three-to-four years devising our current Allegiant 2.0 plan, and we are pacing nicely in the implementation. Our team members have been a critical component in the execution of the plan. We continue to excel in operational performance, number one in overall completion reported to date for the third quarter. Our product is our people, and it keeps getting better every day.  Hats off to all who produced a tremendous quarter during a very busy summer.”

Airline only third quarter 2019 results

• Diluted earnings per share were $3.06, an increase of nearly $2.00 per share versus last year
• 17.9 percent operating margin for the quarter and 21.3 percent year to date
• TRASM increased 4.3 percent despite capacity growth of 5.8 percent
  • Quarter negatively impacted .5 percent due to Hurricane Dorian
• Total fare increased 1.8 percent despite increasing aircraft utilization by 15.6 percent
• Fixed fee flying set a quarterly record of almost $20 million in revenue contribution
• Cobrand credit card total revenue was $2.58 per passenger during the quarter
  • Named Best Airline Co-Branded Credit Card by the USA Today 10Best Readers Choice Awards
• Third party hotel net revenue grew 17 percent easily exceeding growth in passengers
• Fuel gallons used increased only 3.0 percent on ASM growth of 6.7 percent
  • Increase in ASMs per gallon of 3.6 percent to 80.3
• Airline unit cost excluding fuel decreased by 5.6 percent
  • Maintenance, continued improvement in operations, and lower airport fees were the largest drivers

Airline operational highlights

• Departures in the third quarter were up 8.2 percent year over year despite eight fewer average number of aircraft in service
• Improved industry leading completion despite an increase in cancellations of more than 1.5x due to weather
  • Controllable completion was 99.97 percent, up from 99.52 percent year over year
• On time performance (A-14) for the quarter was 79.2 percent up 4.7 points year over year
  • Controllable A-14 was 88.3 percent, up 4.5 points from last year
• Irregular operations costs – third quarter down $5.5 million or 53 percent
  • Year to date irregular operations costs were down $14 million or 53 percent

Liquidity and shareholder returns

• Total cash and investments at September 30 were $442 million
• Total debt declined from the second quarter to $1.4 billion
• We have 30 unencumbered aircraft
• $81 million available under the revolving credit facility
• Returned $14.7 million through share repurchases in the quarter – purchased at an average of $141.64 per share
  • Currently have approximately $85 million in share repurchase authority
• Returned $11 million in dividends in the third quarter
  • Expect to pay dividend of $0.70 per share on December 12, 2019 to shareholders of record as of November 22, 2019

Non-airline highlights

• Non-airline businesses resulted in a combined operating loss of $5.2 million during third quarter
• In discussion with potential buyers for Teesnap

Allegiant Air aircraft photo gallery: