The Anti-Spirit Merger: Why Allegiant-Sun Country Makes Sense
Photo Credit: Sun Country has performed well in recent years. Wikimedia Commons / Acroterion
Skift Take
Other low-cost carriers have attempted to outfly reality — adding capacity, chasing share, and hoping costs would normalize. Allegiant and Sun Country have done the opposite.
The U.S. low-cost airline sector has been getting crushed, but the surprise merger between Allegiant Air and Sun Country Airlines is not driven by weakness or desperation.
It’s the opposite: They are two of the most disciplined, profitable, and strategically coherent airlines in the segment.
Both carriers have consistently outperformed low-cost peers on profitability, even as cost inflation, labor pressure, and competition from network carriers intensified.
A chart of operating margins for the past six quarters tells the story: While peers like Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airli