It seems G4 has carved out a pretty successful niche in the US aviation market flying p2p between secondary airports and cities as well as some primary cities.

With that in mind, could we see them acquire more aircraft soon to keep expanding? It seems they could be at around 200 aircraft at some point. And will they ever consider new aircraft such as the A320neo series? With MX starting up and introducing new A220s, that could threaten their niche they currently enjoy.

I think the A220 is perfect for much of their network, but G4 often buys or leases used aircraft. With aircraft valuations so low it is hard for me to see them buying or leasing anything new.

It looks like 13 of the A320s were acquired new, 3-5 years ago. Sticking with a single type fleet is a ULCC hallmark.

MIflyer12 wrote:

It looks like 13 of the A320s were acquired new, 3-5 years ago. Sticking with a single type fleet is a ULCC hallmark.

The only reason they acquired new aircraft is that the market for used A319/A320s had dried up, and Airbus needed to offload some A320ceos in order to fully switch the XFW production line over to the NEO. They offered them to G4 at a bargain price, which is the only reason why they went ahead with the deal.

Seeing as there's no shortage of used aircraft right now, I highly doubt G4 will even think about brand new aircraft. Apparently they're trying to get ex-Avianca A320ceos since they have IAE engines.

TexasAirCorp wrote:

Apparently they're trying to get ex-Avianca A320ceos since they have IAE engines.

It looks like Avianca have a mix of engines on their A320s. Allegiant have been CFM users to this point, are they looking to diversify? The conventional wisdom is that the IAEs have slightly better fuel burn on longer sectors.

Perhaps United can sell G4 the former Easy Jet A319s they are acquiring, originally United planned to operate them even though they have different engines than their current fleet. However post pandemic it looks like United has decided not to operate them after all. They're still taking delivery of them but just putting them in storage. The ex Easy Jet A319s have the same engines as the G4 fleet.

Does anyone know if G4 has looked at the A321? I'd have to assume they have that kind of capacity on some of their routes, maybe what the old B752 used to fly, minus HNL.

aviationjunky wrote:

Does anyone know if G4 has looked at the A321? I'd have to assume they have that kind of capacity on some of their routes, maybe what the old B752 used to fly, minus HNL.

The 752s were purchased for Hawaii. They were too big for anything else in the G4 route system at the time. Which is why they got disposed of when the Hawaii thing finally failed.

BrianDromey wrote:

TexasAirCorp wrote:

Apparently they're trying to get ex-Avianca A320ceos since they have IAE engines.

It looks like Avianca have a mix of engines on their A320s. Allegiant have been CFM users to this point, are they looking to diversify? The conventional wisdom is that the IAEs have slightly better fuel burn on longer sectors.

Ah, I meant CFM. Excuse me.

STT757 wrote:

Perhaps United can sell G4 the former Easy Jet A319s they are acquiring, originally United planned to operate them even though they have different engines than their current fleet. However post pandemic it looks like United has decided not to operate them after all. They're still taking delivery of them but just putting them in storage. The ex Easy Jet A319s have the same engines as the G4 fleet.

G4 is far more interested in the A320 at this point than the A319. But I suppose if the price was right.

aviationjunky wrote:

Does anyone know if G4 has looked at the A321? I'd have to assume they have that kind of capacity on some of their routes, maybe what the old B752 used to fly, minus HNL.

I’m sure they have, however I doubt G4 will ever acquire A321s since most of the cheap, almost end-of-life frames they might be interested are being converted to freighters. They’re not even being put on the market as pax aircraft.

wjcandee wrote:

aviationjunky wrote:

Does anyone know if G4 has looked at the A321? I'd have to assume they have that kind of capacity on some of their routes, maybe what the old B752 used to fly, minus HNL.

The 752s were purchased for Hawaii. They were too big for anything else in the G4 route system at the time. Which is why they got disposed of when the Hawaii thing finally failed.

Once Hawaii was dropped they used them on some high capacity routes until retirement. I don't think retiring had anything to do with not being able to fill them, rather they were a small subfleet that added unneeded complexity. There are probably a dozen routes out of the larger focus cities that see multiple daily frequencies (at least before Covid). They were planning to run up to 4x day on routes such as CVG-VPS, which could definitely benefit from larger aircraft. The A321 definitely would have a place if capacity on such routes returns to pre-covid levels.

ElroyJetson wrote:

I think the A220 is perfect for much of their network, but G4 often buys or leases used aircraft. With aircraft valuations so low it is hard for me to see them buying or leasing anything new.

in this forum, the a220 is the perfect airplane for every airline in every topic LOL

FCRO wrote:

ElroyJetson wrote:

I think the A220 is perfect for much of their network, but G4 often buys or leases used aircraft. With aircraft valuations so low it is hard for me to see them buying or leasing anything new.

in this forum, the a220 is the perfect airplane for every airline in every topic LOL

Indeed. The A220 is too small for most of G4’s network. 70% of their fleet is the A320 which seats 20-30 more passengers than they will be able to squeeze into a A223.

Even if the A220 might be a nice plane for allegiant there wont be enough in the used market, and i really only see them buying used. They want value so i bet we see them look for more A320s. The A220 discussion is pointless because there wont be enough used at the prices allegiant wants for a long time.

The less then daily thing works out better on costs. They don't care about frequency. The allegiant crowd books their vacation when the flights are. The larger planes are fine for their model.

wjcandee wrote:

aviationjunky wrote:

Does anyone know if G4 has looked at the A321? I'd have to assume they have that kind of capacity on some of their routes, maybe what the old B752 used to fly, minus HNL.

The 752s were purchased for Hawaii. They were too big for anything else in the G4 route system at the time. Which is why they got disposed of when the Hawaii thing finally failed.

That’s not accurate at all. Hawaii from LAX and LAS were very successful in the end for G4, to the point they extended the retirement date for the 757s. The 757s were retired because their engines were all coming for overhaul and G4 did not want to spend the money to overhaul the engines, hence why they were retired and the Hawaii ended. The 757 did fly a number of non Hawaii routes as well. LAS-CVG come to mind that was operated almost daily.

Funny enough, it has been strongly rumored that G4 is currently shopping around for a new fleet type for the long term (3-5 years out). The 737 Max, A220 and 320neo have all been rumored to be in contention.