Demanding fair contracts: Allegiant pilots protest in front of Provo Airport
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- Allegiant Air pilots protest at Provo Airport on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025.
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- Allegiant Air pilots protest at Provo Airport on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025.
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- Allegiant Air pilots protest at Provo Airport on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025.
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- Allegiant Air pilots protest at Provo Airport on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025.
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- An Allegiant plane is pictured Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025, at Provo Airport.
Allegiant Air pilots picketed outside Provo Airport on Tuesday to demand the airline end negotiation delays and offer fair contracts.
Clad in sunglasses and walking in an organized line, the pilots held up signs accusing Allegiant management of weak leadership and poor decision-making and threatened to go on strike.
“It’s been far too long since Allegiant has come to the table in good faith to negotiate a fair contract — an industry-standard contract that we deserve, that we have earned,” said Noah Nilsson, an Allegiant first officer who spoke as the union representative of the Allegiant Pilots Association, Teamster Local 2118.
Allegiant arrived to Provo Airport in 2013 and established a four-aircraft base at the airport in 2022. It is one of three airlines to operate out of Provo, serving flights to eight nonstop destinations, including Austin, Texas; Burbank, California; Houston, Texas; Mesa, Arizona; Nashville, Tennessee; Orlando, Florida; Portland, Oregon; and Santa Ana, California.
Nilsson said approximately 50 Allegiant pilots are based out of Provo and that each of the 20-plus pilots who participated in the strike Tuesday were on an off day and either fly out of Provo or live in the area.
Allegiant pilots at 22 airports nationwide participated in protest, which did not result in any flight cancelations or delays, Allegiant confirmed.
An Allegiant spokesperson told the Daily Herald that while union members are exercising their right to picket, there is no threat of a work stoppage.
“We are operating our full schedule and do not anticipate any disruptions related to the informational picketing. Our customers can continue to book and travel with confidence,” Allegiant said.
However, the pilots consider the situation to be urgent. Nilsson said the airline is losing experienced pilots to other airlines with better compensation and benefits due to Allegiant’s outdated contractual agreements, and that it’s unable to attract new, qualified pilots to take their place.
“Unfortunately, the message we want to convey is, without this contract from management, it could start to affect routes and we don’t want that,” Nilsson said. “We don’t want routes to go away. We want Provo to grow. We want Provo to succeed. These are the communities that we live in, that we love flying our neighbors.”
According to Nilsson, it has been five years since negotiations started with the airline, yet little progress has been made.
Allegiant said in an email that it has offered pilots an immediate 50% average increase in hourly wages that scales to 70% over five years, along with a 50% contribution increase of pilots’ retirement benefits.
Nilsson said that despite the proposed wage increases, they would still fall roughly 30% lower than industry standard wages, and that Allegiant is also asking the pilots to make concessions in order to receive the increase.
“They want us to give up areas that would affect our quality of life in order to pay us more,” Nilsson said. “Other airline pilots would never accept that, and we’re not going to. We refuse to be treated unfairly. We want to stand united for what we deserve.”
According to Allegiant, a legal work stoppage can only occur after the National Mediation Board determines there is an impasse in negotiations, offers interest arbitration but does not find a resolution and releases the parties from mediation — followed by a 30-day cooling period.
Allegiant said none of these conditions have been met.
A mediator from the board has been present for negations the last two, going on three years, according to Nilsson.
