Allegiant Air controversies

Safety and maintenance scrutiny involving MD-80 aircraft

A series of emergency landings and aborted takeoffs led to FAA monitoring and critical reporting about Allegiant’s maintenance practices and the reliability of its older MD-80 fleet. A later newspaper investigation reported a higher rate of in-flight failures than at other major U.S. airlines and documented numerous serious mechanical incidents. Allegiant disputed the implication of systemic safety failures, while FAA findings cited in reporting characterized identified issues as minor and non-systemic.