CONCORD, N.C. — Allegiant Air has announced they're making Concord-Padgett Regional Airport their latest hub. The low-cost carrier plans to spend $50 million to make it happen by this fall.
But what exactly does that mean for passengers?
This will be the airline’s 21st hub in the country, bringing 66 new jobs. It’s growth for an airline that has faced some serious scrutiny in the past.
Allegiant Air came to Concord in 2013 with just two flights a week. WCNC Charlotte first started reporting on the airline back in 2016 after a string of issues including mechanical failures, delays and emergency landings were making headlines across the country.
Back then, it was enough to make a south Charlotte mom, Jen Branham, cancel her Allegiant flight.
“The first thing you think about – I want to be on the safest airline possible,” she said.
The problems prompted an FAA evaluation
But even with all of that – the airport director at the time told WCNC Charlotte they were spending millions on a new parking deck and terminal in hopes of getting Allegiant to commit more to Concord.
Now it seems that’s just what’s happening with Allegiant’s new hub set to open in October.
WCNC checked the airline's most recent safety records. The FAA said there are no current investigations into Allegiant, but a review of 2019's reported issues show the airline had at least five emergency landings last year.
Industry leaders say most of the issues that prompted that FAA evaluation back in 2016 were because of the airline’s fleet of old planes – they were all replaced by the end of 2018.
“The fleet transition was a modernization project which began in 2013, to address some reliability issues which inconvenienced our customers,” an Allegiant spokeswoman said.
Late arrivals were a big issue for Allegiant in the past. WCNC Charlotte checked, and the US Department of Transportation shows in 2019 Allegiant ranked 6 out of 10 for the major airlines when it comes to on-time performance – ahead of both American and United.
WCNC asked if the new hub would mean new flights, and a spokeswoman for the airline would not comment on that.
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