LAS VEGAS (AP) — Maurice Gallagher, longtime CEO of low-cost airline Allegiant, will step down as CEO of the airline’s parent company and be replaced by company chairman John Redmond on June 1.
Allegiant Travel Co. announced the CEO change on Monday. Gallagher will remain chairman.
Gallagher said the CEO change formalizes “changes that have worked in practice for several years.”
The announcement came on the same day that rival airlines Spirit and Frontier announced plans to merge, creating a bigger-budget airline than Las Vegas-based Allegiant.
Redmond, who has spent many years in the hotel and resort industry, has served on the Allegiant board of directors since 2007, except for a one-year hiatus. He has been president for five years and oversees the day-to-day operations of the company.
Gallagher was among the investors who launched ValuJet Airlines, a low-cost airline that suffered a crash in Florida in 1996 attributed to improperly stored hazardous materials in the cargo hold. The airline bought AirTran and took the name of the smaller rival.
Gallagher took over Allegiant in 2001 after the company underwent a bankruptcy reorganization.
Allegiant posted a profit of $152 million on $497 million in revenue last year. Revenues exceeded 2019 levels, a rarity in the airline industry, which is still trying to recover from the onset of the pandemic.
The company has ambitious growth plans, including a partnership with Mexico’s Viva Aerobus to expand its international business.
The shares gained 3% in trading ahead of Monday’s market open.
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