Talking Transportation 2025
Avelo Airlines: Neither Woke Nor Broke
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Connecticut’s favorite local airline, Avelo, is in trouble for making a strategic business decision: taking a long term contract with ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to fly deportation flights for the Department of Homeland Security. Starting in May they’re dedicating three of their twenty 737 jets to fly from Mesa, Arizona, to destinations both in the U.S. and overseas (presumably flying over the “Gulf of America”), possibly even heading to El Salvador to deliver deportees to prisons there. The public reaction, while understandable, is misplaced. Avelo has enjoyed amazing success flying out of New Haven’s Tweed airport, growing from 50,000 passengers in 2019 to a current 600,000 happy flyers. They fly to 31 different destinations and have recently added flights from Bradley airport.