Allegiant Rebrands to Make You Forget It's an Airline

(MoneyWatch)  The airline we've all come to know as Allegiant Air (ALGT) has a message for customers. It doesn't want to be known as an airline, and it's creating a branding campaign to make sure that's clear. This is really just an extension of what most of us know already -- the big money isn't in flying airplanes but rather with what you do after you land.

Over the last few years, Allegiant has followed the ultra low cost carrier model of trying to keep fares as low as possible in order to get people on board and make money on ancillary revenues. When it started with this strategy in Las Vegas, the airline made a large number of deals with local hotels to package rooms with flights, and that worked wonders. Now Allegiant makes nearly $35 a passenger in ancillary revenue, and a lot of that is money that can't be made if someone just buys a ticket on the airline. Considering how razor thin airline profits are, this is actually what makes Allegiant profitable at all.

So now, Allegiant Air appears to be turning into simply Allegiant. As the new ad says (that annoyingly auto-plays when you go to allegiantair.com), "People think we're just an airline, but we're so much more." Here's the ad:

But it's not just a repositioning, there's also a call to action here. Allegiant now offers a low price guarantee if you book a package, which is generally more marketing than actual substance. In this case, if you find a cheaper deal, the airline will give you another ticket to that city for free in the future. Then Allegiant will make even more ancillary revenue on your next trip.

Allegiant is also lowering fares further and offering discounts if you book a package. The end result is clear. Allegiant doesn't want passengers. Allegiant wants travelers to use the company for the entire trip. Considering that Allegiant has found success in this arena so far, it makes sense to try to push it further in that direction from a marketing perspective, something that Allegiant hasn't really dabbled in very much historically.

So remember, Allegiant is no longer an airline. It's a travel company that can also fly you to your destination itself.

Related:

• Allegiant's Unique Aircraft Order Highlights A Different Model
• Allegiant's Low Aircraft Ownership Costs Allow Schedule Flexibility
• Weak July Traffic Shows Allegiant Lost Altitude

Photo via Flickr user Silenus81/CC 2.0