Aviation career Gallagher was a founder of
WestAir, which operated from 1978 to 1992. He served as Vice President-Finance of the parent company of WestAirCommuter Holdings, Inc. from 1979 until 1982. From 1983 until August 1992, he served as an executive and director of WestAir Holding, Inc. until the company was acquired by
Mesa Air in May 1992. WestAir functioned as the west-coast commuter/regional airline affiliate of
United Airlines. Gallagher also was a member of the investment group that founded ValuJet Airlines, Inc. (one of the predecessors to AirTran Airways, Inc.) and served as a board member of ValuJet from its inception in 1993 until 1997. Gallagher is the Chairman of Allegiant Travel Company, and its major subsidiary, Allegiant Air. Gallagher was the major creditor of the then small,
Fresno-based scheduled airline in 2000 when it declared bankruptcy. He gained control of the airline as a result of the bankruptcy and later became CEO and Chairman. The airline changed headquarters to
Las Vegas and eventually changed its business model of flying older large commercial aircraft from small cities around the US to large leisure destinations (initially Las Vegas, later
Orlando,
Phoenix,
St Petersburg,
Fort Lauderdale and other cities). In September 2024, Gallagher retired from the CEO position. and
2020, respectively. After the
2021 NASCAR Cup Series season,
Richard Petty Motorsports majority owner and Medallion Financial CEO
Andrew Murstein sold his stake of the team to Gallagher and the team was renamed
Petty GMS Motorsports. The team name was changed to
Legacy Motor Club in 2023 after
NASCAR Cup Series and
IndyCar Series driver
Jimmie Johnson purchased an ownership stake. However, the GMS Racing team did not merge into Petty's team, and GMS continued to field entries in the Truck Series and the
ARCA Menards Series in 2022. In January 2023, the team announced it would not be fielding cars in the 2023
ARCA Menards Series Season in order to better focus on their entries in the
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. ==Philanthropy==