Avelo Airlines to end ICE deportation charters as it cuts commercial flights, jobs

Avelo streamlines network and fleet, ends deportations

Avelo Airlines is shaking up its operation as part of a wide-ranging turnaround effort.The startup budget airline said this week that it would close three of its bases and realign its network around four remaining bases, changing its schedule as it moves to firm up its financial performance amid a period of losses for the carrier.Avelo will shut its bases at Arizona's Mesa Gateway Airport (AZA), Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) in Nort…

Avelo Airlines to End Deportation Flights from Mesa Gateway Airport This Month

Avelo Airlines plans to end all deportation flights from Phoenix–Mesa Gateway Airport by January 27, concluding its participation in a federal charter program with the Department of Homeland Security. The decision follows months of scrutiny over the airline’s involvement in immigration enforcement operations. The program, which began in May 2025, used Avelo’s Boeing 737-800 aircraft to transport… Source

Avelo Airlines to halt deportation flights for ICE

Budget carrier Avelo is ending a contract with the U.S. government to deport migrants, citing "operational complexity and costs."

BWI protests fell short, but airline will still end deportation flights

An Avelo Airlines Boeing 737-700 airplane lands at Burbank Airport in an October 2024 file photo. (Getty stock photo)Maryland activists were unable to convince Moore administration officials to boot Avelo Airlines from Thurgood Marshall Baltimore Washington International Airport last year after the low-cost carrier began running deportation flights for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But those flights are about to end anyway: Avelo this wee…

Avelo Airlines to stop deportation flights after months of backlash

Avelo Airlines will stop flying deportation charters for the Department of Homeland Security, ending its service for Immigration and Customs Enforcement after less than a year.

Avelo Airlines Ends Deportation Flights, But Company's Planes Sold To ICE

In April 2025, it was revealed that low cost carrier Avelo Airlines would start operating deportation flights, as part of an agreement with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). From Avelo’s perspective, this was a way to get a steady income stream, in an otherwise challenging market for primarily domestic airlines. As you’d expect, though, this move was controversial, and Avelo face…