WHY IT RATES: Discount airline Allegiant today announced its sooner-than-anticipated repayment of emergency relief funds issued by the federal government during the pandemic to help the carrier continue paying its employees, even while air travel was essentially at a standstill. - Laurie Baratti, TravelPulse Associate Writer
Allegiant announced it has repaid the $24.8 million dollar emergency relief loan the company received under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act in April 2020.
The government assistance, coupled with proactive initiatives from Allegiant and its employees, allowed the airline to preserve liquidity and strategically position itself to withstand the uncertainty surrounding the outbreak of COVID-19. Allegiant's unique business model, focused entirely on leisure travel, helped the company respond to the unprecedented challenges that the entire airline industry faced when demand for air travel dropped so suddenly and precipitously in 2020, as a result of the global pandemic.
The CARES Act, signed into law in April 2020, established the Payroll Support Program to provide assistance to U.S. companies that were impacted by the global pandemic. The funds helped Allegiant support the airline's employee salaries and benefits.
"We're so grateful to the federal government and the American people for stepping up and assisting the entire industry when the outlook for the future was so uncertain," said Allegiant's CEO John Redmond. "This loan helped us save jobs at a time when it wasn't clear how the U.S. would emerge from the pandemic. We're thrilled that demand has increased so much in recent months that we were able to fulfill our obligation much earlier than we originally anticipated."
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