ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Flight cancellations are expected to continue today and in the near future for Allegiant Airlines. Allegiant canceling flights nationwide, including to and from St. Pete Airline waiting on new planes Allegiant Air The budget airline is canceling dozens of flights, including some to and from St. Petersburg-Clearwater Airport, as it awaits the arrival of new airplanes. On Thursday, almost 20 Allegiant flights were canceled with additional flights canceled and rescheduled in the coming days. According to Allegiant Spokesperson Krysta Levy, the problem is being caused by the airline's scheduled transition to new airplanes. The airline is moving away from the older MD-80 planes in favor of an Airbus fleet. "You may or may not be aware that we are in the process of transitioning to a single fleet type," Levy said in release. "Unfortunately, some of the delivery dates for aircraft scheduled to join our fleet have fallen short of the projections, leaving us with limited resources available and the very difficult choice to cancel certain flights. "We have offered options to our passengers on canceled flights, including recommodation to other flights or refunds. We sincerely apologize for the interruption to our passengers' travel plans." Hundreds of passengers have been left scrambling to find new flights. Airline officials say they are working with passengers to get them refunds or rebook them on other flights. "I want to be clear that this is not an issue with the new Airbus entering our fleet from Airbus manufacturing," Levy said. "This is an issue with new-to-fleet used aircraft that still go through an induction process and are currently being held up by a leasing company we’re transacting with." Flights involved include: Rescheduled: • Flight 434 originally scheduled to depart on June 15, 2018 will now be operating as flight 5434 on June 16, 2018 departing Las Vegas, NV at 8:00 AM, arriving in Knoxville, TN at 2:53 PM. • Flight 435 originally scheduled to depart on June 15, 2018 will now be operating as flight 5435 on June 16, 2018 departing Knoxville, TN at 3:40 PM, arriving in Las Vegas, NV at 4:52 PM. FRIDAY • Flight 824 from St. Petersburg, FL to Des Moines, IA has been canceled. • Flight 825 from Des Moines, IA to St. Petersburg, FL has been canceled. • Flight 866 from St. Petersburg, FL to Pittsburgh, PA has been canceled. • Flight 867 from Pittsburgh, PA to St. Petersburg, FL has been canceled. • Flight 882 from St. Petersburg, FL to Grand Rapids, MI has been canceled. • Flight 883 from Grand Rapids, MI to St. Petersburg, FL has been canceled. • Flight 926 from St. Petersburg, FL to Providence, RI has been canceled. • Flight 927 from Providence, RI to St. Petersburg, FL has been canceled. THURSDAY, JUNE 21 Canceled Flights for June 21th, 2018: • Flight 814 from St. Petersburg, FL to Raleigh Durham, NC has been canceled. • Flight 815 from Raleigh Durham, NC to St. Petersburg, FL has been canceled. • Flight 860 from St. Petersburg, FL to Lexington, KY has been canceled. • Flight 861 from Lexington, KY to St. Petersburg, FLhas been canceled. • Flight 960 from Lexington, KY to Myrtle Beach, SC has been canceled. • Flight 961 from Myrtle Beach, SC to Lexington, KY has been canceled.<doc-sep>CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Fla. -- If you're flying Allegiant, you might want to double check your flight status. The airline has canceled several flights in Florida and across the country, and even flights next week are affected. Allegiant says it's getting a new all-Airbus fleet. But as they're making the transition, a spokesperson tells Fox 4 that some of the delivery dates for those planes are late, straining their resources. That's why on Thursday, 16 flights coming in and out of Clearwater were canceled, and at the airport in Punta Gorda, two flights were canceled. The airline says passengers should expect delays up until next week. We looked into Allegiant's history of flight delays and cancelations. The Government Bureau of Transportation Statistics shows that in Punta Gorda, arriving flights this year have been delayed more than 23% of the time. Departures have been late more than 17% of the time. Canceled flights for both arrivals and departures range from .4-.6% of the time. We compared that to some of Allegiant's competitors at the airport. This same time last year, Frontier's arrivals were delayed less, about 17% of the time. Their departures though, were delayed more often than Allegiant, at over 23% of the time. When it comes to cancelations, Frontier canceled flights much more often. Cancelations for both coming and going flights span from 3-7% of the time. At Allegiant, those cancelations happened less than 1%. Numbers aren't out yet for the month of June, so we don't know if all these flight cancelations will affect Allegiant's data. But without this incident, it seems your flight isn't too likely to get canceled if you fly the airline. Allegiant says it will refund or re-accommodate passengers whose flights were canceled. They also say you might have longer security lines while they sort this out. On Friday, two arriving flights have been canceled coming into Punta Gorda. Both are Allegiant flights; one from Moline, Illinois and the other from Stewart International Airport in New York. A full list of cancellations at Punta Gorda can be checked HERE. You can check the status of Allegiant flights on their website.<doc-sep>
The cancellations scrambled travel plans for hundreds of passengers Allegiant Air has cancelled flights scheduled for Friday to and from Punta Gorda's airport and Rockford, Illinois, and at least 12 upcoming flights over the next two days to and from St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport. The cancellations scrambled travel plans for hundreds of passengers from Florida to as far west as Tulsa, Oklahoma, the Tampa Bay Times is reporting this morning. The problem, the airline told the Tampa Bay Times, is a delay in receiving new aircraft to add to its fleet. The problem is amplified for passengers at Punta Gorda Airport because Allegiant is its only commercial carrier, limiting the options for rescheduling flights. "We are in the process of transitioning to an all-Airbus fleet," Allegiant spokeswoman Krysta Levy said in an email. "Unfortunately, some of the delivery dates for aircraft scheduled to join our fleet have fallen short of the projections, leaving us with limited resources available and the very difficult choice to cancel certain flights." The cancellations extend into next week, with four flights affected on June 21 as of early this morning. David Eckerson, 52, of Muskogee, Oklahoma, told the Times that he arrived in the bay area on Sunday and found out Wednesday that his flight back home had been cancelled just hours before he was supposed to board. He and his wife had to grab last-minute seats on another airline’s flight. "It just stinks that they’re going to give us $225 and we had to pay $435," he told the Times, referring to the price of a voucher Allegiant sent him compared to the price of his new ticket. The budget carrier had long depended on an aging fleet of McDonnell Douglas MD-80s. In 2016, a Times investigation found that mechanical issues made Allegiant four times more likely to have unscheduled landings than other airlines in 2015. In August, the airline announced that it had replaced all of its MD-80s at St. Pete-Clearwater International with newer Airbus 320s. Allegiant plans to replace its entire fleet of MD-80s by 2019.