Avelo’s
first revenue-generating flight was in April 2021, nearly four years ago. Since then, its fleet has grown to 20 aircraft, averaging 16.8 years, meaning they’d be less fuel-efficient and more maintenance-heavy but much cheaper to acquire. They don’t have to be used as intensively as newer alternatives. It has 12 189-seat Boeing 737-800s and eight 149-seat 737-700s.
Avelo’s first three international routes
Analyzing Cirium Diio data for February 2025 shows that Avelo’s network comprises 45 airports and 72 routes, of which 67 are domestic and five are international.
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Image: GCMap
While Avelo flew internationally from Lansing and Miami in early to mid-2024, these were charter flights for other companies. They were not scheduled flights bookable through its website.
This changed in November 2024, when it inaugurated its first international links from Hartford to Cancun (twice-weekly 737-800) and Hartford-Montego Bay (twice-weekly 737-800).
JetBlue served the Mexican destination until 2023 (Delta, Frontier, and the now-defunct USA3000 flew before that). Meanwhile, Montego Bay saw Spirit in 2022/2023. They are ready-made markets for Avelo.
On February 12, Avelo’s third international route, from Raleigh/Durham to Montego Bay (twice-weekly 737-700), joined them. JetBlue served this market in 2020/2021 and Frontier in 2018/2019. Will it be the third time lucky?
Two international links start this week
As summarized below, two more city pairs will join the abovementioned three markets. On February 21, the day this article was written, Avelo commenced Hartford to Punta Cana flights, marking the carrier’s scheduled entry into the Dominican Republic.
The service runs twice-weekly on the 737-800. According to Flightradar24, the inaugural roundtrip service deployed 18.3-year-old N806VL, initially operated by Brazil’s Gol.
The market, Avelo’s new third-longest route, has been unserved since USA3000 pulled out in 2007. Booking data for 2024 shows that around 26,000 passengers flew indirectly between the two cities, making it Hartford’s largest unserved international market.
On February 22, the airline will begin Raleigh/Durham to Punta Cana flights. Like the others, they will run twice-weekly, just on the smaller 737-700. When writing, 17.0-year-old N702VL, an ex-Southwest machine, is down to operate the inaugural roundtrip service.
Frontier operated in 2018/2019, with Avelo becoming the market’s second operator. More than 47,000 passengers traveled indirectly last year, making it comfortably Raleigh/Durham’s largest unserved international market.
To help reduce fees/charges and increase marketing economies of scale, Avelo generally serves each destination from more than one airport.
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Cancun, Montego Bay, and Punta Cana
Let’s stick with the three international destinations Avelo now serves: Cancun, Montego Bay, and Punta Cana. Each is a renowned tourist destination from the US, and some may say they’re mass markets.
Photo: Avelo
According to booking data, the trio had an estimated 22 million roundtrip passengers to/from the US last year, of which about six million passengers—more than one in four—connected to another flight en route.
Cancun had about 13 million passengers (25% were indirect), Punta Cana had five million (a third were indirect), and Montego Bay had four million (36% connected).
The top 10 unserved markets
Moving away from Avelo, let’s adopt a radius of 1,500 nautical miles (2,778 km). When this is done, the 10 largest unserved US markets are as follows.
Do note that this is simply for information. It is not about potential Avelo opportunities. Indeed, based on its initial five markets, many are relatively small for the carrier and involve airports it does not serve or where it does not have a base.
Image: GCMap
They are as follows. As always, should any of them be served by any carrier, traffic will rise from non-stop service, potentially lower fares, and hopefully strong promotions.
- Omaha to/from Cancun: 34,000 roundtrip passengers
- Oklahoma City-Cancun: 28,000 (a year ago, Oklahoma City said it would have customs; has it opened yet?)
- Memphis-Cancun: 24,000
- Richmond-Cancun: 24,000
- Montego Bay-Pittsburgh: 23,000
- Nashville-Punta Cana: 22,000
- Nashville-Montego Bay: 21,000
- Richmond-Montego Bay: 21,000
- New Orleans-Montego Bay: 20,000
- Richmond-Punta Cana: 15,000
Notice that Richmond features three times. The Virginia airport, which has new customs facilities, will gain international service in 2025 when BermudAir launches.