Not to take up for the company, but they may be turning the corner. The FAA said that Allegiant’s reported incident rate has trended downward in recent years. Allegiant reported 0.0029 events per 1,000 departures in 2017. It is clear they had maintenance problems in 2015/2016. A lot of this is due to aging MD-80 aircraft which they seemed to have trouble repairing. This should be directed toward poor performance of the contracted maintenance company they poorly managed. Delta actually flies four times as many ancient MD-80s and -90s. Just FYI, the aircraft with the most fatal accidents is the 737 with more than 59 fatal crashes. This is compared to only 15 with the MD-80 series. While this seems shocking, you have to remember there were millions of safe flights. Allegiant has also recorded a huge number of safe flights and the current data shows they should continue with safe flights.
Just FYI, the airlines with largest number of fatalities from 2000 to 2014: Malaysia Air with 537, American 416, Air France 337. Southwest and Allegiant have had no fatalities. Both are discount carriers.
Allegiant is paying for the bad press. Their stock took a dive. As to whether you should fly them? Like buying a car, you should review the facts and make a decision. Remember the Corvair, Pinto and other cars that were sold and killed many people. Both Ford and Chevy recovered. Perhaps Allegiant will get a chance. We all need to be informed and not just listen to the media. The data is available.
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