A Sight No More: Allegiant Air Boeing 757s

In March 2010, American low-cost carrier Allegiant Air purchased six used Boeing 757-200s from British charter carrier Thomson Airways with the intent of using them for trans-Pacific flights to Hawaii from several west coast cities. Not only did this acquisition and expansion keep to the airline's business model of offering low-cost services to popular vacation destinations, but it added perhaps one of the most lucrative (or so it seemed) vacation destinations in the United States. Allegiant introduced their 757s into revenue service in September 2011 from their main hub in Las Vegas on flights initially within the lower 48.

Once the airline received their ETOPS rating for the 757, flights to Honolulu International Airport began soon after. Allegiant inaugurated their Hawaii flights initially from Las Vegas and Fresno. Allegiant then began rotating their 757s flights around by pairing Honolulu with Bellingham, Boise, Eugene, Phoenix-Mesa, Santa Maria, Spokane and Stockton. There were plans to begin flying to Honolulu from Monterey, CA but such flights never came into fruition. Allegiant then began reducing its Honolulu city pairs until there were only two remaining (Las Vegas and Los Angeles). Then in November 2015, the airline announced that it was going to discontinue all service to Hawaii from the U.S. mainland. Allegiant Air determined that the extensive and costly maintenance check that happens about every 6 years (the D-Check) would cost upwards $1 million per aircraft; in short, it would not be financially viable just for a fleet of six airframes.

The other problem Allegiant Air encountered was that the Hawaiian market itself just didn't work out with the carrier's business model. Hawaii is dominated by vacation condos/timeshares. On top of that, most of the hotel operators in Hawaii had no interest in partnering up with Allegiant, so they had far worse hotel offerings there than they do in other mainland vacation markets. With the airline's business model being built around hotel and vacation packages, and without the popular Hawaii hotels at their side, the low-cost carrier was missing out on revenue from hotel rooms, that could've otherwise made all the difference in justifying keeping the Honolulu routes. Of course, the withdrawal of Allegiant Air from Honolulu means Hawaii is without an American low-cost carrier (for now).

Allegiant began retiring their 757s when each airframe was due for their heavy maintenance check. Given that Allegiant bought their 757s used and they already have a high number of cycles on them, it is highly unlikely that these airframes will get picked up and see service with another carrier, therefore will likely get scrapped. And as of today, Allegiant has retired the last of their 757s from the fleet. This leaves the Airbus A319, A320, MD-83, and MD-88 as the remaining aircraft type in their fleet; the MD-83s and MD-88s are scheduled to be retired by 2018.

I was lucky enough to photograph three of Allegiant Air's Boeing 757s (all doing charter flights) in Provo while I was getting started on my flight training. So here's a short montage:

Boeing 757-204 (N902NV). This airframe started life as G-BYAE with Britannia Airways, delivered May 1992. It was then leased to Icelandair in November 1994 before returning to Britannia Airways in April 1995. It was then transferred to Thomsonfly (and then eventually to Thomson Airways) after Britannia Airways rebranded in May 2005. On April 4, 2009, this airframe was withdrawn from use with Thomson Airways and went into brief storage at Shannon Airport in Ireland. It then went to Phoenix-Goodyear Airport on June 30, 2009 for a more long-term storage. In July 2009, airframe was acquired by aircraft lessor AerCap and was briefly re-registered as N964BV and was ferried to Paine Field in Washington to be converted for Allegiant on March 30, 2010. Airframe was re-registered to N902NV and delivered to Allegiant May 2010. Airframe was withdrawn from the Allegiant fleet on February 27, 2017 and went to storage down in Victorville-Southern California Logistics Airport March 10, 2017.

Boeing 757-204 (N906NV). Airframe started life as G-BYAP with Britannia Airways, delivered February 1994. It was then transferred in November 2004 to Thomsonfly following the re-branding of Britannia and again to Thomson Airways in May 2009 following the merger between Thomsonfly and First Choice Airways; aircraft was also nicknamed "John Lennon" after the famed Beatles member while in service with Thomsonfly and Thomson Airways. Airframe was then ferried to Abu Dhabi on October 11, 2011 for maintenance prior to returning to the United States. Re-registered to N906NV and delivered to Allegiant in April 2012.

Boeing 757-204 (N905NV). Airframe was first delivered to Britannia Airways in February 1994 as G-BYAO. It was then transferred to Thomsonfly in November 2004 following the re-branding of Britannia. Transferred again in May 2009 to Thomson Airways following the merger between Thomsonfly and First Choice Airways; during service with Thomsonfly and Thomson Airways, aircraft was nicknamed "Eric Morecambe" after the prominent comedian of British culture. Airframe was withdrawn from the Thomson Airways fleet on October 16, 2011 and ferried to Abu Dhabi for maintenance prior to returning to the United States. Re-registered to N905NV and delivered to Allegiant in March 2012. Airframe was fitted with blended winglets in June 2012.

These were rare catches, and it's a shame they're gone now...