Avelo Airlines

Avelo Airlines (/əˈvɛloʊ/) is an American ultra low-cost carrier 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.[3][4] 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.[5]

"Casino Express" redirects here. For the former Finnish passenger ferry, see MS Casino Express.
Not to be confused with Avlo, the low-cost branch of RENFE AVE high-speed rail services.

Avelo Airlines
IATA ICAO Callsign
XP[1] VXP[1] AVELO
Founded
  • July 20, 1987 (1987-07-20)
    (as Casino Express Airlines)
  • December 8, 2005 (2005-12-08)
    (as Xtra Airways)
  • April 8, 2021 (2021-04-08)
    (as Avelo Airlines)
Commenced operationsApril 28, 2021 (2021-04-28)
(as Avelo Airlines)
AOC #BJNA472B[2]
Operating bases
Fleet size16
Destinations44
Parent companyAvelo, Inc.
HeadquartersHouston, Texas, U.S.
Key peopleAndrew Levy (Chairman & CEO)
Employees927
Websiteaveloair.com

History

Casino Express Airlines
A former Casino Express Boeing 737-200 in 1994

Established on July 20, 1987, as Casino Express Airlines, the air carrier began operations in 1989 using Boeing 737-200 jetliners flying exclusively for the Red Lion Hotel and Casino in Elko, Nevada. Casino Express operated 737 jet service from Elko Regional Airport nonstop to many cities in the US. In 1994, Casino Express was operating scheduled weekend only flights nonstop between Elko (EKO) and Portland, Oregon, (PDX) and Seattle (SEA) with McDonnell Douglas MD-80 jetliners.[6] Casino Express Airlines also 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.

Xtra Airways
A former Xtra Airways Boeing 737-800 landing at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in 2017

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.[7]

Xtra Airways changed its aircraft livery in 2015 to an executive jet style, displaying flag blue and red stripes.[8]

In September 2016,[9] 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.[10] 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.[11]

Avelo Airlines
An Avelo Airlines Boeing 737-800 at Sonoma County Airport after its inaugural flight from Burbank on April 28, 2021

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.[12] 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.[13] By April 2019, the airline was considering operating Boeing 737-800s.[14]

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.[3]

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.[15][16][17] Its initial route network consisted of eleven unserved destinations from Burbank, launching between April 28 and May 20, 2021,[15] with an initial fleet of three Boeing 737-800s, expanding to six by the end of 2021.[18][19] 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.[20] Avelo's inaugural flight occurred on April 28, 2021, which traveled from its Burbank base to Santa Rosa's Sonoma County Airport.[5]

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.[21] The airline on July 7, 2021, announced that it would terminate its flights to Bozeman and Grand Junction by the end of September,[22] while by July 29, 2021, the airline announced an additional five destinations including Fort Collins, Las Vegas, Monterey, Provo, and St. George,[23][24] although the planned flights to Monterey, Provo, and St. George were later temporarily cancelled.[25] 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.[26] Additional routes were announced during October 2021, including flights between Fort Collins and Las Vegas beginning in December 2021, and flights between New Haven and Sarasota/Bradenton beginning in January 2022.[27]

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.[28][29] On October 20, 2022, the airline announced its fourth base at Wilmington's New Castle Airport in Delaware.[30] On November 10, 2022, Avelo announced the launch of its fifth base at Raleigh–Durham International Airport in North Carolina.[31]

Corporate affairs

The headquarters are in 12 Greenway Plaza.[32]

Destinations
Main article: List of Avelo Airlines destinations

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.

Top airports by destinations (only 5+ destinations)
2023
AirportIATADestinations
Connecticut New HavenHVN17
Florida OrlandoMCO15
California BurbankBUR14
Delaware Wilmington (DE)ILG13
North Carolina Raleigh/DurhamRDU12
North Carolina Wilmington (NC)ILM7
Nevada Las VegasLAS7

Fleet

Current fleet
An Avelo Airlines Boeing 737-800

As of April 2023, the Avelo Airlines fleet includes the following aircraft:[33][34]

Aircraft In service Orders Passengers Notes
Boeing 737-700 7 — 147
Boeing 737-800 9 — 189
Total 16 —

Former fleet

Casino Express Airlines and Xtra Airways, Avelo's predecessors, previously operated the following aircraft:[35]

Aircraft Total Introduced Retired Notes
Boeing 737-200 7 1994 2005
Boeing 737-300 1 2010 2011 Transferred to IAero Airways
Boeing 737-400 12 2006 2020

See also

References
  1. "Avelo Airlines Airline Profile | CAPA". centreforaviation.com. Retrieved November 25, 2022.
  2. "Airline Certificate Information". Federal Aviation Administration.
  3. Bachman, Justin (February 12, 2020). "Former United CFO raises $125 million for U.S. start-up airline". Bloomberg News. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
  4. "About XTRA Airways". LinkedIn.
  5. "Wheels Up: Avelo Airlines Takes Off with First Flight Between Burbank and Santa Rosa" (Press release). Avelo Airlines. April 28, 2021.
  6. September 15, 1994, OAG Desktop Flight Guide, North American Edition, Elko, NV (EKO) flight schedules
  7. Compart, Andrew (February 5, 2006). "Casino Express changes name, flies in a different direction: Travel Weekly". Retrieved April 30, 2017.
  8. "XTRA Airways Introduces a New Livery, Completes its Move to the Miami Area". World Airline News. August 28, 2015.
  9. hermes (September 7, 2016). "Journalists get to join Clinton on new aircraft". The Straits Times. Retrieved October 8, 2016.
  10. Atapattu, Suresh A. (September 30, 2016). "Aviation Photo #4005779: Boeing 737-86J — Untitled". Airliners.net. Retrieved October 8, 2016.
  11. Gimmillaro, Chris (October 5, 2016). "Aviation Photo #4009879: Boeing 737-484 – Xtra Airways". Airliners.net. Retrieved October 8, 2016.
  12. Kaplan, Seth (April 2, 2019). "New Ultra-Low-Cost Airline Led By Former United Executive Aims To Take Off This Year". Here & Now. WBUR-FM. Retrieved May 7, 2021.
  13. "US investor to try to launch new ULCC based on XTRA Airways". ch-aviation. April 5, 2019. Retrieved May 7, 2021.
  14. Bachman, Justin (April 2, 2019). "United Air's Former CFO to Launch a New U.S. Budget Airline". Bloomberg News. Retrieved May 7, 2021.
  15. "Meet Avelo: America's Newest Airline" (Press release). PRNewsWire. April 8, 2021. Retrieved May 7, 2021.
  16. Rucinski, Rachel (April 8, 2021). "New U.S. budget airline Avelo seeks niche on West Coast". Reuters.
  17. Brancaccio, David; Garretson, Meredith; Conlon, Rose (April 8, 2021). "New low-fare airline launches, focusing on smaller airports". Marketplace. Minnesota Public Radio.
  18. McKenty, Natasha (April 14, 2021). "New low-cost carrier, Avelo Airlines, to serve western U.S. for as little as $19 one-way". Skies Mag. Retrieved May 7, 2021.
  19. Wolfsteller, Pilar (April 12, 2021). "Andrew Levy's low-cost Avelo Airlines hits the ground running". FlightGlobal. DVV Media Group. Retrieved May 7, 2021.
  20. Pallini, Thomas (April 23, 2021). "American and Alaska are making moves to compete with America's newest airline before its first flight has even taken off". Business Insider. Retrieved May 7, 2021.
  21. "Avelo Expands To East Coast; Announces Tweed New Haven Airport Base" (Press release). PRNewsWire. May 6, 2021. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
  22. Wolfsteller, Pilar (July 7, 2021). "Two months after launch, Avelo cuts destination cities, raises prices". FlightGlobal. DVV Media Group. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
  23. Lilly, Caitlin (July 15, 2021). "Low-cost airline to launch nonstop service between Las Vegas, California's wine country". KVVU-TV. Meredith Corporation.
  24. Karp, Aaron (July 30, 2021). "Avelo, Breeze add more new routes". Routesonline. Informa Markets. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  25. Shek, Winston (August 27, 2021). "Avelo Airlines Cuts Flights to Two Destinations From Burbank". Airline Geeks.
  26. Fins, Antonio (September 15, 2021). "New airline to fly from Palm Beach International Airport to Connecticut". The Palm Beach Post. Retrieved September 15, 2021.
  27. Zaretsky, Mark (October 21, 2021). "Avelo adding sixth Florida destination from Tweed New Haven; cafe opening at airport". New Haven Register. Hearst Communications. Retrieved October 21, 2021.
  28. More Perfect Union [@MorePerfectUS] (April 13, 2022). "BREAKING: Flight attendants at @AveloAir, a new U.S. airline that launched last year, have won their union election and will join @AFA_CWA. Avelo management hired union-busting firm Jones Day to stop the flight attendants, delaying the union vote by 6 months, but still lost" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  29. National Mediation Board (April 14, 2022). "In the Matter of the Representation of Employees of Avelo Airlines, Inc. Flight Attendants" (PDF). National Mediation Board. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
  30. "Hello, Avelo! Avelo Airlines Announces New East Coast Base In Wilmington, Delaware". Avelo Airlines (Press release). PRNewswire. October 20, 2022. Retrieved November 10, 2022.
  31. "Avelo Airlines Announces Fifth Base in Raleigh-Durham". Avelo Airlines (Press release). PRNewswire. November 10, 2022. Retrieved November 10, 2022.
  32. "Contact Us". Avelo Air. Retrieved April 9, 2023. Avelo Airlines Customer Support 12 Greenway Plaza, Suite 400 Houston, TX 77046 - Also stated in the contract of carriage
  33. "Avelo Airlines Fleet". Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  34. "Avelo Air Fleet Details and History". Planespotters.net. February 13, 2023. Retrieved February 13, 2023.
  35. "Xtra Airways Fleet Details and History". Planespotters.net. August 17, 2021. Retrieved August 19, 2021.
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