Allegiant Travel Company passenger traffic results for May 2022 grew by 40% compared to the year ago period, with capacity up by 17%.
"We grew capacity by nearly 16 percent during May, as compared with 2019, and completed the month with a load factor of 87 percent, the highest month since the onset of the pandemic," stated Drew Wells, senior vice president, revenue. "Demand strength continues to persist with forward bookings outpacing future capacity growth and continuing to trend higher than levels observed during 2019. Although early, bookings into the off-peak season are also trending higher than 2019. We continue to expect June loads to surpass May levels, with loads expected to be roughly 90 percent. As COVID cases began rising mid-May, we saw an increase in flight cancelations stemming from crew availability. Due to heightened cancelations, we expect total revenue for the quarter to come in on the low end of our previous guide, at up roughly 28 percent compared with 2019. In addition, we now expect total system capacity to be up roughly 11.5 percent for the quarter, year over three-year."
"The average cost per fuel gallon in May was $4.41 and we now expect to finish the quarter at an average cost per gallon of $4.30," stated Gregory Anderson, executive vice president, chief financial officer. "This increased fuel cost over our previous guide of $4.00 per gallon will result in roughly $18 million in excess expense throughout the quarter. We expect our CASM, excluding fuel and profit sharing, to fall within our previous guide, at up roughly 15 percent when compared with 2019.
