Allegiant Travel Company has reported total revenue for the first quarter of 2021 of $279.1 million, up 13.2 percent from the fourth quarter. The airline also reported net income of $6.9 million compared to a net loss of $33million a year ago.
The revenue figure includes fixed fee revenue of $7.7 million, the strongest quarter since the onset of the pandemic.
Allegiant has restored capacity to pre-pandemic levels with scheduled service capacity up 3.1 percent versus first quarter of 2019.
"The momentum reported last quarter picked up in earnest towards the back half of the first quarter with booking trends showing meaningful improvement," stated Maurice J. Gallagher, Jr., chairman and CEO of Allegiant Travel Company. "We completed the quarter with earnings per share of $0.42 on year over two-year revenue declines of 38.2 percent, continuing the trend of sequential revenue improvement. We were the first domestic carrier to restore capacity to pre-pandemic levels, with first quarter scheduled capacity up 3.1 percent as compared to 2019. Booking trends have been particularly impressive with average daily bookings for the months of March and April exceeding the same time period in 2019. Furthermore, the booking curve appears to be normalizing and more closely resembling what we saw in 2019. April's results came in as strong as March helped by a ten-point increase in load factor from 54 to 64 percent. We expect capacity in the coming months will be equal to or greater than our 2019 levels.”
Allegiant has succeeded in reducing its net debt and increasing cash balances. Total cash and investments at March 31, 2021 were $728 million, up from $685 million at December 31, 2020. By the end of the second quarter, the airline expects to have total liquidity of $1 billion, or more than double its year-end 2019 balance. “We were able to double our cash balances without an equity raise or substantial increases in debt,” said Gallagher. “We benefited from the payroll support programs as well as federal income tax refunds of the substantial tax payments made in the past years. Our shareholders have seen their company's balance sheet improve dramatically - perhaps more than any other company in this space - in spite of the setbacks and hardships imposed by this unprecedented event.”
During the quarter Allegiant also raised $50.2 million with the refinancing of three A320 aircraft, and has paid down debt principal payments of $152 million, which includes repayment of the existing debt on three aircraft and the repayment of existing revolver as the facility matured during the first quarter. Also in this period, Allegiant entered into a new secured revolving credit facility with a $50 million commitment, which is currently undrawn.
Gallagher expressed his confidence in the outlook for the airline. “I could not be more bullish on our outlook. Going forward our full-year, 2021 capacity should exceed 2019 capacity levels. We expect sequential scheduled service revenue improvement with revenue down just six to ten percent as compared with 2019 levels. This revenue growth should continue through the remainder of 2021. We continue to separate ourselves from the competition, operating more capacity and generating positive EBITDA and earnings. I believe now more than ever our low-cost, low-utilization model designed to provide affordable leisure travel is our competitive advantage, which will help drive us towards returning to our goal of $6 million in EBITDA per aircraft.”