An Avelo spokesperson confirmed the end of its Western operations to the Daily Voice on Tuesday, July 15. The Houston-based budget airline will close its hub outside of Los Angeles in Burbank, California, by December.
Avelo, which has a hub in New Haven, Connecticut, said Northeast service won't be impacted by the West Coast shutdown.
"Avelo’s West Coast closure has no effect on our Connecticut or East Coast service or operations," the spokesperson said. "We are in the planning phases of relocating the two planes to the East Coast, so only positive outcomes for our East Coast airports."
Avelo launched its first flight from Burbank in 2021 and eventually expanded to 13 Western routes, NBC Los Angeles reported.
"This was not an easy decision," CEO Andrew Levy said in a statement to NBC LA. "We believe the continuation of service from BUR in the current operating environment will not deliver adequate financial returns in a highly competitive backdrop."
In the West, Avelo has flown to Las Vegas and smaller cities across California, Montana, Oregon, and Washington, according to Upgraded Points. Those routes will be phased out between Sunday, Aug. 10, and Tuesday, Dec. 2.
The airline flies to the following Northeast cities:
Avelo has been widely criticized after agreeing to fly deportation flights for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The "long-term charter program" through the Department of Homeland Security is based in Mesa, Arizona, and began in May.
As part of the DHS partnership, Avelo uses three Boeing 737-800 aircraft to fly people detained by ICE. The routes include deportations to other countries and domestic transports.
The airline said the end of West Coast commercial service won't affect the ICE flights that have been called "cruel" by critics.
"We are still operating the DHS contract out of our Mesa base," the spokesperson said. "Protests nor our contract with DHS had any effect on our decision and have not impacted our business."
Those protests have spread nationwide to Avelo's cities on both coasts, including New Haven and Mesa. In May, more than two dozen people demonstrated outside the airline's headquarters, the Houston Chronicle reported.
The Coalition to Stop Avelo celebrated the airline's end to West Coast service, the New Haven Register reported. The group pushed back on Avelo's claims that the ICE flights aren't hurting the carrier's revenue, saying that "the sweeping cuts point to both a shrinking business model and the growing power of organized opposition."
The coalition's organizer, Matthew Boulay, lives in Salem, OR, which will lose Avelo in August. The end of service means Salem's airport will no longer have a permanent airline offering flights.
Boulay said the boycott and protests are affecting Avelo.
"They got themselves into financial trouble and took the ICE contract out of desperation," he said. "It was a morally bankrupt deal with the devil — and now it's backfiring, because passengers don't want to fly Avelo.
"These protests are working. From California to Connecticut, communities are rejecting Avelo's values — and it's having a real impact on their bottom line."
Protesters are planning a "Good Trouble" demonstration at Tweed New Haven Airport on Thursday, July 17. The rally will be held exactly five years after the death of Rep. John Lewis, who coined the term "good trouble" about acts of civil disobedience.
After the loss of West Coast service, Avelo will continue flying to more than 40 US cities. The airline also travels to destinations in the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Mexico.
Affected California crew members will have the option to transfer to the New Haven hub or bases in Wilmington, Delaware, or Charlotte, North Carolina.