By JACK NICAS
Updated July 30, 2015 6:41 p.m. ET
An unusual emergency landing by an Allegiant Travel Co. flight low on fuel is drawing new scrutiny to the budget carrier after a string of other in-flight disruptions.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it is gathering information about the incident, which occurred last week, when two of the airline’s executives were flying an Allegiant jet carrying 150 people from Las Vegas to Fargo, N.D. The agency already had increased its oversight of the Las Vegas-based carrier because of a recent series of diversions and emergency landings, an FAA spokesman said.
The July 23 flight left Las Vegas despite a public notice from the FAA that the airspace around Fargo would be closed for practice by the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels aerobatic jets. When the Allegiant jet arrived in Fargo, controllers told the pilots they would have to wait 20 minutes to land.
“Listen, we’re at [low] fuel in about probably three to four minutes,” the pilot responded, according to air-traffic-control recordings. “I’ve got to come in and land.” The jet landed without incident after controllers ordered the Blue Angels away from the airport.
Allegiant said late Wednesday that the flight was piloted by Greg Baden, its vice president of operations, and Michael Wuerger, director of flight safety, both of whom were flying to gather cockpit time to maintain their pilot certifications.
Allegiant said it is not uncommon for management to be pilots, which helps them keep a “connection to our day-to-day frontline operations.”
Allegiant said its dispatchers released the flight to Fargo because the FAA notice made it seem like the airport would remain open for passenger airlines. The airline said other planes that landed at Fargo during the closure apparently made the same mistake. The carrier said the aircraft landed with 42 minutes of fuel remaining. The FAA requires airliners to have 45 minutes more fuel than what its scheduled route should require.
“Our captain exercised good fuel-management judgment,” Steve Harfst, Allegiant’s chief operating officer, said in an interview. “We have some work to do internally on flight planning and flight dispatching.”
Allegiant has been embroiled for years in contentious contract negotiations with its pilots union, whose planned strike in April was halted by a federal judge.
In recent months, the pilots union has publicly alleged the airline is cutting corners at the expense of safety. Pilots say “they are forced to fly aircraft that barely passes acceptable safety standards,” the union said in one report.
Mr. Harfst attributed the union’s allegations to bargaining tactics, and said they “are completely unfounded.”
From September to March, Allegiant had at least 65 incidents, including aborted takeoffs and diversions, because of maintenance-related issues on aircraft, according to the union. From June 8 to July 6, Allegiant had at least an additional 28 such incidents, the union said. Neither the airline nor the FAA makes such data public, so it is difficult to compare the rate of incidents at Allegiant to its peers.
In one case in June, the FAA said passengers climbed onto a jet’s wings via the emergency exits after it landed in Boise, Idaho, because a fuel leak was sending fumes into the cabin.
Mr. Harfst didn’t dispute the union’s tally of recent incidents but added that this year’s number of disruptions is similar to past years.
“If we can’t run a safe airline, we shouldn’t be in the business,” he said. Allegiant has a relatively high number of diversions because it doesn’t have mechanics in most of its cities and often has to send flights back to its hubs when maintenance issues arise, he said. “That presents a unique challenge when it comes to customer service, but if anything, it’s an example of our focus on safety,” he said.
Allegiant is the ninth-largest U.S. airline, accounting for 1.5% of the 76 million domestic airline seats scheduled in July. The discount carrier’s strategy centers on using inexpensive, used jets to ferry vacationers between smaller cities and tourist hot spots, like Las Vegas and Orlando.
Allegiant has one of the industry’s highest profit margins, and on Wednesday it reported second-quarter profit increased 62% to $54.3 million from a year prior.
Air-safety experts said Thursday’s emergency in Fargo was extraordinary because dispatchers sent a plane into closed airspace and an aircraft ran short on fuel, something that should happen only in extreme circumstances.
“There are a lot of questions about this one,” said air-safety consultant John Cox, a former airline pilot. “With the number of incidents this year, increased scrutiny is understandable.”
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