Allegiant Travel Co., parent of low-cost carrier Allegiant Air, reported net earnings of $13.8 million in the third quarter, a 182% year-over-year increase.

The company’s revenue rose 13.9%, to $133.1 million, and operating margin skyrocketed 9.6 percentage points, to 16.5%.

Operating expenses were up just 2.2%, to $111.2 million, as fuel costs declined 23% from a year earlier.

"Moreover, these results were produced with a 47% increase in scheduled service departures over the third quarter of 2008," said CEO Maurice Gallagher Jr. "In the third quarter of 2008, we squeezed capacity hard to compensate for extraordinarily high fuel prices.

"This year we returned to more normal third-quarter aircraft utilization, which in combination with a seven-aircraft increase in our fleet resulted in high year-over-year growth against a backdrop of continued industry capacity cuts."