Avelo Airlines kicked off nonstop flights from Wilmington Airport to eight additional cities beginning on Thursday.
The first flight on Thursday to Nashville was sold out, with 150 of 189 sets filled on the second flight to Wilmington, NC.
In a ribbon-cutting event announcing the service expansion, Avelo handed out round-trip tickets to all passengers on the flight to the north Carolina city.
Based on booking trends, Avelo expects see 100,000 passengers at the Delaware airport. It comes after the airline announced that in its first 120 days of operation at Wilmington Airport (ILG), Avelo carried 50,000 passengers on 400 flights from the renamed New Castle Airport.
Tom Cook, executive director of airport manager, the Delaware River and Bay Authority said Avelo has turned into a spectacular success story in the early going. The DRBA will also look for grants to expand the terminal waiting area.
A sign of the growth came with the board of the DRBA authorizing an upgrade of a parking lot that has not been used since the early days of service by Frontier Airlines. Frontier saw a surge in traffic but abruptly reduced service. The DRBA will also look for funding to expand the terminal waiting area.
Cook said the boarding area is usually not overcrowded since Avelo flights are at least 90 minutes apart.
Flights typically operate twice weekly, with Orlando service running four days, and Tampa and Myrtle Beach three.
Avelo noted that it posted the lowest flight cancellation rate among U.S. airlines during the first five months of this year and had the best on-time performance in the industry in May.
New destinations are:
- Charleston, SC
- Daytona Beach, FL
- Greenville / Spartanburg, SC
- Myrtle Beach, SC
- Nashville, TN
- Raleigh / Durham, NC
- Savannah, GA / Hilton Head, SC
- Wilmington, NC
Avelo serves a total of 13 nonstop destinations from ILG. Avelo currently flies to five nonstop Florida destinations from ILG: Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Orlando, Tampa, and West Palm Beach. The eight new routes will be phased begining on Thursday.
Service to Melbourne on Florida’s “space coast” was announced but was later dropped. Flights to West Palm Beach will end in early July but are expected to resume in the winter.
Avelo Airlines launched flights from ILG on February 1. Avelo currently has one scheduled 189-seat Boeing 737-800 jetliner based at ILG. Avelo will add a second scheduled 737-800 at ILG in June. Levy noted that Avelo flies bigger jets on routes where major carriers sometimes use more cramped regional jets.
Avelo will face competition from ultra-low-fare carriers Frontier and Spirit which Fly to some of Avelo’s destinations from Philadelphia and offers lower base fares than “major” carriers like American.
Avelo employs upwards of 100 crew-members at its Wilmington base, including pilots, flight attendants, airport crew, aircraft maintenance technicians, and supervisors. Avelo is currently hiring for additional positions.
Since its launch on April 28, 2021, Avelo has flown nearly 2.5 million Customers on nearly 20,000 flights.
Avelo currently serves 44 destinations in 24 states from the East and West coasts. It offers non-stop flights without delay-prone connections and offers no transcontinental service. Flights are typically from small hometown airports like Wilmington (ILG).
Avelo earlier held a sale featuring $19 one-way fares to the eight destinations and currently offers $50 one-way fares on many July flights. Seat assignments and baggage fees are extra. It holds flash sales that reduce ticket prices in competing for passengers with Philadelphia International Airport.
