Allegiant Air shifting work to private company, will lay off 168

By Richard N. Velotta

Wednesday, March 2, 2011 | 6:06 p.m.

Allegiant Air’s decision to shift much of its ground operations to a contracted private company will result in the layoff of 168 Las Vegas employees.

The Las Vegas-based company confirmed the decision today after announcing it to employees Tuesday.

Allegiant didn't disclose the length, terms or financial considerations of the new contract with St. Louis-based Airport Terminal Services, but said the change would represent savings for the seventh-busiest carrier at McCarran International Airport. The company has executed similar contracts at several of its small city operations and resort destination airports.

Ground crew employees facing layoffs include gate agents, aircraft cleaners, ramp attendants and ground crew members.

The company will lay off 168 of its 606 McCarran-based employees on May 3 and an Allegiant spokeswoman said they would be the first to be interviewed by ATS as it expands its operation for Allegiant.

A representative for ATS could not be reached Wednesday to determine how many employees would be hired for the new Allegiant contract.

Employees leaving the company will be given their current Allegiant travel benefits for three months after the transition as well as standard service provider travel benefits if they take a job with ATS.

“We made the decision to move ground operations to ATS to improve Allegiant’s efficiency in this area,” Allegiant spokeswoman Jordan McGee said in an e-mail. “We anticipate it will be a cost savings, but also because this type of service is ATS’ core area of expertise and we understand that they will be able to manage this aspect of our business more efficiently that if we kept it in-house.”

Allegiant offers an average of 122 flights a week in and out of Las Vegas to 45 destinations, most of them small cities with customers seeking vacation packages at local resorts.