This past Sunday, CBS 60 Minutes featured a controversial piece on the current state of affairs at Allegiant Air and it’s ability to conduct maintenance appropriately. The entire program is provided below for you to watch and form your own opinion. 60 Minutes claims that the recent rash of mid-air breakdowns, cabin pressure loss, aborted take-offs and other maintenance issues are due to cost and corner cutting.

With the recent in-air incident involving rival airline Southwest Airlines on 17 April, the information turned up by CBS with respect to Allegiant Air screams for a review and attention.

Previously, the Tamp Bay Times had also reported on the maintenance issues being experience by Allegiant Air. Following the 60 Minutes piece, they shared the image below in their re-cap of the situation concerning Allegiant Air.

Securely Travel - Allegiant — Tampa Bay Times

CNBC noted that the revelation of Allegiant’s issues caused its stock price to tumble. They also reached out to Allegiant, who provided a statement in an attempt to put out the flames of uncertainty, with the characterization that the 60 Minutes piece is not news at all, but rather a false narrative based on old news. Here’s Allegiant’s statement.

“It is unfortunate and disappointing that CBS 60 Minutes has chosen to air a false narrative about Allegiant and the FAA. This unoriginal and outdated story bears no resemblance to Allegiant’s operations today, and shows a fundamental misunderstanding of FAA compliance practice and history,” Allegiant’s vice president of operations, Eric Gust, wrote in a statement. “It focused primarily on events of several years past, prior to the FAA’s most recent comprehensive audit of Allegiant Air, which revealed no systemic or regulatory deficiencies … The story features cherry-picked interviews with people involved in the lawsuit, including featured comments from John Goglia, a paid plaintiff’s witness presented by CBS as an unbiased industry expert. This one-sided presentation falls far short of responsible journalistic standards expected from reputable outlets, including 60 Minutes.”

Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL), who is the ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, wrote to and requested the Inspector General of the Department of Transportation to advise the committee on the current state of affairs at Allegiant.