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St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport had its busiest May in nine years, thanks to Allegiant Air, the industry's most profitable airline and reportedly its most tardy in 2012.
About 90% of the 83,595 passengers at St. Pete-Clearwater airport in May flew on low-cost Allegiant, a Las Vegas-based airline that flies to sunny places, such as Clearwater and Punta Gorda, from small cities.
The airline is a subsidiary of Allegiant Travel Co. (symbol: ALGT; recent price: $108.05), which has been profitable in 39 of the last 41 quarters.
Allegiant flies nonstop from the Pinellas County airport to 25 cities, most of which are cities not served by other airlines, says St. Pete-Clearwater airport spokeswoman Michele Routh.
The St. Pete-Clearwater airport, rebranded “Tampa Bay, The Easy Way,” is served by three other airlines in a limited capacity: Sunwing Airlines, dubbed Canada's low-cost airline; Vision Airlines and Airtransat.
The airport expects to see more growth from Allegiant in frequency, aircraft capacity and cities served, Routh says. It's unlikely, however, the airport will bring in another airline to challenge Allegiant, which is known for walking away from competition.
Allegiant Travel also sells hotel rooms, tours and more, in addition to flights.
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