Allegiant Air Just Bought Pilot Pay Parity At The Entry Door While The Exit Door To The Majors Stays Wide Open

Allegiant Air’s new pilot contract is easy to describe as a big raise, but that undersells what happened on August 3rd. The pilots of Allegiant Air ratified TA26 with 79.51% of the vote, with 970 pilots voting yes and 250 voting no, and the agreement immediately lifted average hourly wages by roughly 40% while unlocking about $300 million in retention bonuses. The more important story is that a low-cost carrier has effectively acknowledged that pilot pay at the bottom of the seniority list is no longer simply another variable in the ultra-low-cost-carrier model.