The FAA has confirmed that it is conducting an evaluation of Allegiant Air. This type of audit is common in the industry. The FAA conducts evaluations of every airline in the United States every five years. However, Allegiant’s inspection was not scheduled until 2018.
Regulators decided to move the audit up two years because of a series of recent (and not so recent) mishaps. At least two incidents involved Allegiant planes having to make emergency landings because they did not have enough fuel on board to remain in the air.
Then, last Thursday, an Allegiant plane had to make an emergency landing in Phoenix because of engine failure. That was, apparently, the last straw for the FAA. The evaluation was announced soon thereafter.
Such emergency landings have been commonplace for the low cost carrier over the past year. Also, its on time performance has been poor and it has been forced to cancel numerous flights.
The FAA announced the inspection in a statement: “The FAA is conducting a routine National Certificate Holder Evaluation of Allegiant Air. We do these on each U.S.-certificated airline every five years. We moved up the date for Allegiant’s evaluation from 2018 to 2016 to ensure that work the carrier is doing to address various internal issues has resulted in the desired improvements. We expect to have the evaluation done by late June.”
So it appears that any punishment action against Allegiant won’t be taken until sometime in June.
At least on the surface, Allegiant doesn’t seem concerned about the audit. “Allegiant’s priority is to ensure the safety of each and every passenger that flies on our aircraft. We have every confidence in our operation, and commit to sharing a summary of the FAA’s review after it is concluded.”
However, Allegiant CEO Maurice Gallagher recently admitted that his airline has been struggling with operational issues. He called the middle of 2015 a “bad summer” after a spate of emergency landings in Florida made headlines. After the latest near-misses, it appears that the FAA has had enough and will put Allegiant under the microscope to see what is going wrong.
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DALLAS » Federal safety officials are reviewing operations at Allegiant Air two years ahead of schedule, spurred by incidents including an aborted takeoff and a plane that landed low on fuel.
The Federal Aviation Administration routinely evaluates airlines every five years but moved up Allegiant’s review from 2018.
An FAA spokesman said Thursday that the agency is making sure that work Allegiant is doing “to address various internal issues has resulted in the desired improvements.”
The review began in early April and is expected to run through June.
Allegiant said in a statement that it welcomed the review and FAA feedback.
“We have every confidence in our operation, and commit to sharing a summary of the FAA’s review after it is concluded,” the statement said.
The FAA sometimes moves up airline inspections because of management changes, labor disputes or other factors. The FAA said the decision to speed the Allegiant review was based partly on two incidents last year.
In one, a mechanical failure was blamed for causing the nose of the plane to rise too soon during takeoff. Pilots aborted the takeoff on the runway in Las Vegas.
In the other, a plane flown by two Allegiant executives with airline-pilot licenses ran low on fuel and made an emergency landing at a closed airport in Fargo, North Dakota. The FAA closed the case after Allegiant took steps to improve training and procedures.
The airline has suffered other high-profile breakdowns and emergency landings, including an engine fire that caused pilots to abort another Las Vegas flight.
The president of the union representing Allegiant’s pilots said the early FAA review underscores the airline’s problems with maintenance.
“It’s clear that Allegiant’s bare-minimum approach to its operation isn’t working,” said Dan Wells, president of Teamsters Local 1224.
The FAA decision to move up the Allegiant review was previously reported by the Tampa Bay Times.
Allegiant Air is a unit of Las Vegas-based Allegiant Travel Co.
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