Copyright Hartford Courant
Avelo airlines, which about 10 days ago was revealed to be removing all of its flights from Bradley International Airport, now is commemorating its “milestone” of four years at Tweed-New Haven Airport with a new deal for travelers. The budget airline, which says it has 28 nonstop destinations from Tweed, said the new deal for travelers, on base fares, is “20% off + additional exclusive savings for Avelo PLUS members.” The Connecticut Airport Authority late last month was highly critical of the budget carrier for the decision to pull out of Bradley International Airport and that it was especially “disappointed and surprised” about the decision to cancel the state’s only nonstop service to Montego Bay, Jamaica. A spokeswoman for Avelo pushed back about the Bradley decision. “Like all business decisions we make, this exit was made based on facts – the revenues on the market did not cover the costs. Any other insinuation to the contrary is unfortunate, false and uninformed. We remain committed to serving the state of Connecticut through our low fares out of New Haven Tweed airport,” she said at the time. In January, the low-cost airline, which had rapidly accelerated its route expansion in Connecticut hit the brakes, initially pulling the plug on three, nonstop destinations from Bradley International Airport, just two months after it began service at Connecticut’s largest commercial airport. The CAA had said last month that Avelo “recently approached the CAA asking to be relieved of its contractual obligation to pay rent for the remainder of its agreement at BDL after finishing one year of fully incentivized, rent-free operation at the airport. “The CAA understands Avelo’s financial distress and the impacts of public backlash related to its other business decisions, but the CAA cannot relieve Avelo of its financial commitments after investing so much in the airline’s success,” the authority wrote. Now, Avelo said it is “celebrating the fourth anniversary of its start of service at Southern Connecticut’s Tweed-New Haven Airport,” and time during which “the airline introduced a new era of affordable, convenient, and reliable air service to Connecticut travelers.” The airline notes that, at Tweed-New Haven, it has: Flown more than 3.8 million customers Operated nearly 30,000 flights Grown to 28 nonstop destinations Employed over 300 crewmembers (employees) in Connecticut Extended HVN fleet to 8 Boeing Next-Generation 737s Avelo said the promo code “HVN4YEARS” offers “travelers 20% off base fares* on select flights with additional exclusive savings for Avelo PLUS members. Travelers can apply the promo code on itineraries booked at AveloAir.com. Avelo Airlines CEO Andrew Levy said, “Four years ago Avelo took flight from Connecticut with a simple but powerful purpose: to Inspire Travel. We have fulfilled that mission out of Tweed New Haven Airport for more than 3.8 million Customers, who have experienced our money-saving low fares and time-saving convenience. “Today, with 28 destinations from HVN, it’s easier and more affordable than ever to visit many of our country’s most beautiful, vibrant, and popular locations. More airplanes and destinations are on the way, and we look forward to welcoming aboard millions of new and returning Customers in the years ahead.” A message seeking comment was sent to the CAA. The Avelo spokeswoman said last month that it would be exiting Hartford’s Bradley International Airport after its last scheduled flight on January 25, 2026. “It is always disappointing to remove flights; however, multiple business factors make this the best decision for the airline’s continued growth.” She said then that Avelo appreciates support it received from its customers at Bradley. “All Customers impacted by this change have been notified, and we understand the impact this has on them. Those who have bookings on future flights that we intend to cancel will be fully refunded to the original form of their current bookings.” The budget carrier Avelo launched service from Tweed in November, 2021 and announced plans to establish operations at Bradley last summer, with the first flights departing Nov. 7. The CAA also also noted last month that “Avelo originally announced eight destinations at BDL before quickly cancelling all five domestic routes without giving them a chance to mature, even in cases with strong ridership Avelo’s Houston route showed a 70% load factor in November when it launched before spiking to nearly 96% in December (service stopped in January, route was only active for 2 months). “Despite claiming ‘lack of demand’ for the MBJ route, the route’s load factor showed increasingly strong performance since the flight launched in November,” and “over the last four months of publicly available data (April-July), the MBJ load factor ranged from 80% in April all the way up to 95% in July. This is a very healthy load factor.” “Avelo is actively trying to avoid its obligations, while simultaneously taking advantage of incentives,” the CAA wrote.
