Avelo Airlines: История и развитие американского лоукостера

Low cost airline of the United States

Avelo Airlines (/ə/'/v//ɛ//l//oʊ/) is a low cost airline in the United States headquartered in Houston, Texas. It previously operated charter flights as Casino Express Airlines and Xtra Airways before transitioning to scheduled operations and rebranding as Avelo Airlines on April 8, 2021. The airline's first scheduled flight under the Avelo name was on April 28, 2021 from Hollywood Burbank Airport to Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport. For a short time in 1999 Casino Express Airlines operated one Boeing 737 200 jetliner for the start up airline Tahoe Air, which provided scheduled passenger air service with nonstop flights from the South Lake Tahoe Airport to Los Angeles International Airport in southern California and also nonstop service to San Jose International Airport in northern California.

Casino Express quickly expanded its customer base to include sports teams, government agencies, foreign dignitaries, press corps, other gaming properties, and other types of public and private charters. It changed its name to Xtra Airways on December 8, 2005, to reflect its broader focus. From 2007 through 2012 Xtra Airways dedicated two Boeing 737 400 aircraft to fly for Direct Air, an airline business based in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Xtra Airways changed its aircraft livery in 2015 to an executive jet style, displaying flag blue and red stripes. In September 2016, it began operating a Boeing 737 800 (registration: N881XA), repainted in a sky blue and white livery with "Stronger Together" titles, for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. Soon afterward a second aircraft, Boeing 737 400 (N314XA), was also chartered by the campaign, painted with a sky blue stripe and "Clinton/Kaine" titles.

Andrew Levy, a former chief financial officer for United Continental Holdings and later chief operations officer of Allegiant Air, acquired Xtra in August 2018, with the intent of transforming the charter airline into an ultra low cost carrier. By that time, Xtra had sold most of its fleet to Swift Air, but kept one Boeing 737 400 to retain its FAA Part 121 Regularly Scheduled Air Carrier certification. By April 2019, the airline was considering operating Boeing 737 800s. In February 2020, Levy announced the new holding company for Xtra, named Houston Air Holdings, Inc., reflecting the company's Houston headquarters. The same month, the company raised US$125 million in funding and received its first airplane from GE Capital Aviation Services ahead of its original plans to launch scheduled operations later in 2020. On April 8, 2021, the new airline was announced under the name Avelo Airlines, and began selling tickets for flights based at Hollywood Burbank Airport in California. Its initial route network consisted of eleven unserved destinations from Burbank, launching between April 28 and May 20, 2021, Avelo's announcement of its entry into scheduled flight operations was met with competitive response initially from American and Alaska Airlines, with American upgauging the aircraft on its existing route between Phoenix Sky Harbor and Burbank, while Alaska announced a new service between Burbank and Santa Rosa to start on June 1, 2021. Avelo's inaugural flight occurred on April 28, 2021, which traveled from its Burbank base to Santa Rosa's Sonoma County Airport. The airline on July 7, 2021, announced that it would terminate its flights to Bozeman and Grand Junction by the end of September, while by July 29, 2021, the airline announced an additional five destinations including Fort Collins, Las Vegas, Monterey, Provo, and St. George, although the planned flights to Monterey, Provo, and St. George were later temporarily cancelled. Following the airline's California launch in late April, Avelo announced on May 6, 2021, that it would open a new base at Tweed New Haven Airport in Connecticut during the third quarter of 2021. The airline additionally announced that it planned to invest US$1.2 million toward the New Haven airport's facilities, and that it would use Boeing 737 700 aircraft for its operations at the new base. On August 19, 2021, details of the airline's operations at its New Haven base were revealed, initially with four routes between New Haven and destinations in Florida announced to launch during November 2021. As of 2024, Avelo has expanded service from New Haven to 21 destinations across the East Coast, making the airport its largest base. On January 6, 2022, Avelo announced that it had raised an additional US$42 million. This second round offering increased Avelo's invested capital base to over US$160 million. On April 14, 2022, the Association of Flight Attendants was certified as the exclusive representative of all of Avelo's 14 flight attendants after a vote under the Railway Labor Act was conducted by the National Mediation Board. On October 20, 2022, the airline announced its fourth base at Wilmington's New Castle Airport in Delaware, targeting both Delaware and the wider Philadelphia metro area. On November 10, 2022, Avelo announced the launch of its fifth base at Raleigh–Durham International Airport in North Carolina. On January 30, 2024, Avelo announced the establishment of its sixth base at Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa. In February 2024, Avelo announced plans to add five additional aircraft to its fleet, all sourced from bankrupt Brazilian airline GOL.

The headquarters are in 12 Greenway Plaza in Houston, Texas.

Avelo operates domestic routes on the east and west coast of the United States. Prior to rebranding as Avelo, the airline operated ad hoc and on demand charter services as both Casino Express Airlines and Xtra Airways within the Americas.

As of February 2024, Avelo Airlines flies to 41 different airports with 15 of those airports being operated as seasonal routes. Avelo operates domestically within the United States with a fleet of Boeing 737 aircraft.

Avelo currently operates out of six operating bases.

Tweed New Haven has become a staple since the start Avelo Airlines operations. Avelo has grown their base at New Haven using the airport for a majority of Avelo's east coast operations. In 2021 Avelo and Tweed New Haven had announced they began developing a new modern terminal and runway extension to expand operations.

Avelo got its start flying at Hollywood Burbank with its inaugural flight to Sonoma County Airport. Since the airline's inception, regular daily flights depart Burbank.

Avelo added Orlando International as its third base in April 2022 with plans to serve at least 10 nonstop destinations from Orlando by the end of 2022.

Avelo launched its fourth base at Wilmington Airport in Delaware in October 2022. In 2024, the airline announced plans for a major service out of the airport to five summer destinations in Florida.

Raleigh Durham International became Avelo's fifth base in February 2023 with initial service to six destinations.

Avelo opened a base at Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa, California in May 2024 with initial service to 8 destinations. The opening of the Sonoma County base coincided with Avelo closing its base in Las Vegas.