Allegiant's Credit Card Deal is How Profitable?

The airline shared the margin for the program. No surprise: It's huge.

Dear readers,

I love when an executive shares information other airlines decline to make public. Sometimes it’s by accident. But when Allegiant’s chief marketing officer dropped some figures about credit card economics during prepared remarks on Wednesday’s earnings call — far from an improvisational environment — this was no mistake.

Allegiant wants investment analysts to know how profitable its credit card program is on a percentage basis. Perhaps its executives are tired of analysts lauding only the big carriers for their juicy card-related profits. Smaller airlines historically have not captured the same economics because they lack scale, Breeze’s chief commercial officer told me last year, but Allegiant clearly wants a bigger slice of the market.

How could it not? The EBITDA margin, as shared by Allegiant CMO Scott DeAngelo, is gigantic. Much better than selling airline tickets, that’s for sure.