An unusual emergency landing by an Allegiant Travel Co. flight low on fuel is drawing new scrutiny to the budget carrier following a string of other in-flight disruptions.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it is gathering information about the incident, which occurred last week when two of the airline’s executives were flying an Allegiant jet carrying 150 people from Las Vegas to Fargo, N.D. The agency already had increased its oversight of the Las Vegas-based carrier because of a recent string of diversions and emergency landings.
The July 23 flight left Las Vegas despite a public notice from the FAA that the airspace around Fargo would be closed for practice by the Navy’s Blue Angels aerobatic jets. When the Allegiant jet arrived in Fargo, controllers told the pilots they would have to wait 20 minutes to land.
“Listen, we’re at (low) fuel in about probably three to four minutes,” the pilot responded, according to air-traffic-control recordings. “I’ve got to come in and land.” The jet landed without incident after controllers ordered the Blue Angels away from the airport.
Allegiant said the flight was piloted by Greg Baden, its vice president of operations, and Michael Wuerger, director of flight safety, both of whom were flying to gather cockpit time to maintain their pilot certifications.
Allegiant said its dispatchers released the flight to Fargo because it believed the airport would remain open for passenger planes. The carrier said the jet landed with 42 minutes of fuel remaining. The FAA requires airliners to have 45 minutes more fuel than what its scheduled route requires.
