Plane shortage causes Allegiant cancellations

Low-cost air carrier Allegiant Airlines canceled dozens of flights Thursday to and from airports in Florida, including some at Orlando-Sanford International Airport, because of problems with the delivery of new planes.

Las Vegas-based Allegiant issued a travel advisory saying it was canceling 26 flights Thursday and Friday, including 20 affecting destinations in Florida in Sanford, St. Petersburg and Fort Lauderdale.

The move came after Allegiant had problems getting recently purchased Airbus planes ready to fly.

“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,” said an email from Allegiant spokeswoman Krysta Levy on Thursday.

Allegiant said it wasn’t manufacturing delays that held up delivery of the planes, but the “induction process” that includes inspections, new interiors and exterior paint and registration with the FAA, Levy said. The planes weren’t coming directly from Airbus, but are used aircraft from other carriers.

Four flights at Orlando-Sanford International Airport were canceled Thursday. That included routes to and from Greensboro, N.C., and Knoxville, Tenn.

Levy said passengers were offered other flights or refunds.

Allegiant, which specializes in flying from smaller airports to vacation destinations, is in the process of transitioning from an older fleet of McDonnell-Douglas MD-80 aircraft to all Airbus A320 planes, both new and old. Allegiant said the transition should be finished by the end of the year.

Allegiant is one of the country’s fastest-growing airlines, increasing passenger traffic about 12 percent in May 2018 compared with the same month the year before.