In January 2026, the latest merger in the US airline industry was announced, and it wasn’t particularly surprising. There’s now an update, as this deal has officially closed. However, among airline mergers, this has to be one of the ones with the fewest implications for customers… at least for now.
This was a cash and stock transaction at an implied value of $18.89 per Sun Country share. Sun Country shareholders received 0.1557 shares of Allegiant common stock and $4.10 in cash for each Sun Country share owned, representing a premium of 19.8% over Sun Country’s closing share price of $15.77 on January 9, 2026, and an 18.8% premium based on the 30-day volume-weighted average price (the month leading up to when the deal was announced).
The combination is described as creating a leisure focused airline, expanding service to more popular vacation destinations across the United States, as well as international destinations, and providing more people with access to affordable, convenient air travel.
For the time being, the two companies will continue to operate independently as before, until they’re on a single operating certificate. Actually, for now, virtually nothing is changing:
- Customers can continue to book travel through existing channels, including the websites of both brands
- There are no changes to current reservations, flight schedules, or travel plans
- Both Allegiant Allways Rewards and Sun Country Rewards will remain separate in the near term
- Customers can continue to manage reservations, check-in, and access customer service, through the airline with which they booked travel
However, in the long run, the plan is for the Allegiant brand to survive, and the Sun Country brand to go away, though the company is promising a “thoughtful and disciplined integration process.” Before a full integration, the plan is to gradually introduce additional benefits that make it easier for customers to access the combined network.
For those not familiar with the two carriers:
- Allegiant has a fleet of roughly 130 aircraft, including Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 family aircraft; the airline operates point-to-point leisure routes, primarily out of secondary airports
- Sun Country has a fleet of roughly 65 Boeing 737 aircraft (20 of which are cargo planes operated for Amazon Air), and the carrier’s passenger network is heavily centered around leisure routes from Minneapolis (MSP)
Here’s how Allegiant CEO Gregory Anderson describes this:
A great solo travel tip spotted this week on One Mile at a Time.
