Budget airline shuts down operations across West Coast
Avelo Airlines, the Texas-based budget carrier known for its sub-$30 fares and West Coast roots, is pulling out of California.
Its decision comes amid mounting backlash over its cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security and increasing business pressure in the region.
The company announced Monday that it will shutter its base at Hollywood Burbank Airport and shift focus to its 38 other destinations, largely concentrated on the East Coast.
'We are in the planning phases of relocating the three planes to the East Coast, so [these are] only positive outcomes for our East Coast airports,' Avelo added.
Before the decision, Avelo flew into 10 cities on the West Coast. Budget fliers could connect to destinations spanning the region — including Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Portland, and Kalispell, Montana.
Those services will end by December 2, 2025.
It's a major retreat from the first airport the company ever served. Avelo's inaugural flight departed Burbank and flew to Northern California in 2021.
'This was not an easy decision,' the company's top boss, Andrew Levy, said in a statement.
'Our company's deepest operational roots are in BUR, having launched our first flight there over four years ago during the Covid pandemic. '
But the company said those roots weren't deep enough to weather the region's competitive pressures.
The spokesperson said executives made an 'investment of significant time, resources, and efforts' to make the West Coast routes work, but the venture did not produce 'the results necessary to continue our presence there.'
Avelo plans to redeploy its California aircraft to the East Coast, where it sees 'more efficient longer-term growth prospects,' Levy said.
The decision to shutter California operations also comes as the company faces mounting criticism.
Avelo is under fire from activists and consumers calling for a boycott over its cooperation with the Trump administration on deportation flights.
The airliner signed a contract with the US Department of Homeland Security in April to transport migrants to detention centers inside and outside the US.
It maintains that protests had no influence on the decision to leave California.
'Protests nor our contract with DHS had any effect on our decision and have not impacted our business,' a spokesperson for the company told DailyMail.com.
Opposition has cropped up across the country — from outside Burbank Airport to the company's hub in New Haven, Connecticut — with demonstrators urging Avelo to end its partnership with DHS.
Nancy Klein, a California-native, told Reuters she had organized seven protests against the company.
She believes the company's decision to end their service at the airport is partially due their calls to boycott the airline.
'This change in Avelo's business operations is some evidence that being on the right side of history, while being principled and persistent, can make a difference,' she said in a statement.
Klein said she is planning the next protest against the carrier at Burbank Airport on July 27.
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