Pilots with ultra-low-cost airline Allegiant are preparing to hold a no-confidence vote in the carrier’s management, board, and directors.
Teamsters Local 2118, which represents the pilots, said the decision comes after years of “repeated failures, poor strategic decisions, and reckless spending by company leadership.”
“Contract or not, [Maury] Gallagher and [Greg] Anderson’s management team have proven that they don’t have what it takes to lead an airline,” said Captain Kevin Winter in a statement from Local 2118. “The last several years have been failure after embarrassing failure. If pilots had even 1% of this level of failure in the flight deck, our careers would be over. It is time for management to be held accountable.”
Maurice Gallagher serves as chairman of the board of Allegiant, while Greg Anderson is president and CEO.
The union did not say when the no-confidence vote will be held.
Allegiant did not immediately reply to a request for comment from AirlineGeeks.
Local 2118 members faulted the airline’s leadership for “presid[ing] over a 50% collapse in the company’s market value in just six months.” They also cited losses from Allegiant’s Sunseeker Resort in Charlotte Harbor, Florida, which was recently sold to Blackstone Real Estate, the shutdown of its GMS Racing NASCAR team, and “millions wasted on unrelated ventures.”
“[Allegiant] management culture is toxic,” said Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien. “It is fueled by arrogance and protected by yes men and women who could never do the pilots’ job.”
According to the union, airline officials recently flew on private jets to Allegiant bases and told pilots they “can’t afford a new contract,” a tactic one unnamed pilot called “tone deaf.”
“A no-confidence vote is not something any union takes lightly,” said Greg Unterseher, trustee of Local 2118. “The pilots believe a change is necessary in the best interest of the airline, its employees, its customers, and its shareholders.”
