Pilots called on Allegiant Air for a fair contract after they say the low-cost airline has dragged out negotiations for five years.
CLEARWATER, Fla. — Allegiant Air pilots stepped off the tarmac and onto the picket lines Tuesday for an informational picket at airports across the country to ground the attention of their employer without grounding flights.
Approximately 1,400 pilots across 22 airports — from Las Vegas to Sarasota Bradenton International (SRQ) and St. Pete-Clearwater International (PIE) — called on Allegiant Air for a fair contract after they say the low-cost airline has dragged out negotiations for five years.
Allegiant pilots say they’re making 50% less than their peers despite flying the same planes that pilots at United, Delta and other airlines fly. They say they’ve been operating under the same contract for over a decade that does not take inflation into account. The pilots believe Allegiant is intentionally delaying bargaining.
“We’re looking for industry standard. We’re not looking for anything more, anything less,” captain Adelee Plenderleith said. “We just want what everyone else has.”
They tell 10 Tampa Bay News many Allegiant pilots have left for competitor airlines as a result, and they worry it could lead to a reduction in routes with not enough pilots to fly them.
Allegiant has flown out of PIE since 2006 and offers over 60 nonstop routes. The airline has been flying out of SRQ since 2018 and flies to 35 nonstop destinations, which is more than half of the airport’s 68 total destinations.
Allegiant believes that it has met the demands of its pilots, telling 10 Tampa Bay News in a statement that they’ve offered the pilots a competitive package that includes an immediate 50% average increase in hourly wages that scales to 70% over five years.
But pilots say that doesn’t tell the whole story.
“What they’re not saying is that compensation comes with us flying more hours and having fewer days off,” captain Ryan Serra said. “Basically, they’ve asked us to subsidize our own salary increases just to be on parity with our peers.”
The pilots say they understand the aviation industry is under enough stress, and they don’t want to cause anymore. No flights were impacted Tuesday by the picket, but they said if their demands aren’t met, later action could have greater impacts.
“The travel industry has had a lot of challenges,” Serra said. “The last thing we want to see is another instance or another challenge for the public in a strike.”
Just over 97% of Allegiant pilots have voted to authorize a strike. There is no timeline for when one could begin, and the pilots would need the approval from the National Mediation Board in Washington to do so.
“Nobody wants a strike,” Serra said. “We don’t want a strike.”