""The program provided short-term benefits but ultimately did not deliver enough consistent and predictable revenue to overcome its operational complexity and costs," Goff said. CEO Andrew Levy, in an email to employees viewed by CNBC, said that "We moved a portion of our fleet into a government program which promised more financial stability but placed us in the center of a political controversy.""
"Immigrant advocacy groups across the country have decried the relatively young budget airline's relationship with ICE. Protests took place last year in cities where Avelo has bases, such as Wilmington, North Carolina, Nashville, Tennessee, and New Haven, Connecticut. "Avelo used to call itself New Haven's hometown airline," Anne Watkins, an organizer with New Haven Immigrants Coalition, told the Yale Daily News last year. "We have friends and neighbors who have been directly impacted by deportation and detention. We don't want a company that is profiting directly off of those activities to be here in New Haven.""
Avelo will close its Mesa Gateway base on January 27 after carrying out deportation-related flights from that location. A spokesperson said the government program offered short-term benefits but lacked consistent, predictable revenue and added operational complexity and costs. The CEO said the fleet move into the government program promised financial stability but placed the airline in the center of political controversy. Immigrant advocacy groups and community organizers protested the airline's relationship with ICE across multiple cities and launched viral campaigns and public messaging against the airline's participation in deportation flights.
Read at Axios
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