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Allegiant Air launches ad campaign highlighting passengers

Updated May 15, 2018 - 4:00 pm

Allegiant Air launched a national advertising campaign Tuesday that focuses on frequent passengers whose lives were somehow positively affected by the Las Vegas-based budget carrier.

The airline’s “Together We Fly” initiative comes one week after the U.S. Department of Transportation’s inspector general said it will take a closer look at how the Federal Aviation Administration deals with maintenance oversight of Allegiant and American Airlines.

“Allegiant is excited to have welcomed more than 80 million people aboard, and we can’t wait to share their stories,” Scott DeAngelo, Allegiant’s chief marketing officer, said in a statement.

One of the passengers highlighted in the television, online and social media campaign is a mother who boarded more than 60 Allegiant flights from Iowa to Florida to watch her son play college baseball.

Another ad focuses on a long-distance couple who were able to stay connected by flying Allegiant between Las Vegas and Missoula, Montana.

Allegiant’s campaign comes one month after a “60 Minutes” segment questioned Allegiant’s safety record. The segment also stated that the FAA had “switched priorities” from enforcing airlines to comply with safety regulations to now working behind the scenes with carriers as a way to correct problems.

Since 2015, the FAA has investigated 48 violations with Allegiant Air and “ensured the carrier took corrective action,” agency officials said.

A federal review ordered last June initially focused on the FAA’s oversight of air carrier maintenance, but U.S. Transportation Department officials said that requests from Congress members prompted them to “adjust the scope of this audit” to focus on Allegiant and American.

Since the “60 Minutes” segment aired April 15, Allegiant “experienced cancellations and a reduction in bookings.” Two weeks later, company president John Redmond said operations were getting back to normal.

Contact Art Marroquin at amarroquin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0336. Find @AMarroquin_LV on Twitter.

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