Gov. John Carney, airline founder and CEO Andrew Levy and other dignitaries will be on hand at Wilmington Airport (ILG) on Thursday morning when Avelo Airlines announces another service expansion.
The presence of Levy would seem to indicate that Avelo is seeing continued success in its air service strategy for the Delaware airport. Levy targeted Wilmington early on as an expansion candidate.
The media alert indicates that Avelo will add “two tropical destinations” from Wilmington Airport. Avelo last week announced service from New Haven to San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The Delaware Valley, like Connecticut, has a large Puerto Rican community, with rival carriers at Philadelphia International Airport offering flights. To date, Avelo has seen success in attracting passengers to flights on competing routes out of Philadelphia.
Avelo is hitting pause on some routes in the coming months, leaving room for additional destinations for the two 189-passenger Boeing 737 jets based here. The airline currently serves 13 destinations. Service is often twice-weekly.
For example, service to Savannah, GA ends next month. At the same time, the number of flights to Myrtle Beach, SC, will increase in late summer and early fall to three times a week. Orlando service has been increased to four times a week in August and will expand to five times a week around Christmas.
All of this is marked contrast to the twice-a-week service attempted by Frontier Airlines, which departed the airport for the second time last year prior to Avelo’s service announcement.
Other airports are likely to be U.S. territories like the Virgin Islands due to customs regulations that would require Avelo to enter the international service arena.
The Avelo expansion led the Delaware River and Bay Authority to reopen a parking lot that closed several years ago after Frontier Airlines abruptly reduced service during its first go-round at the Delaware Airport. Frontier has since become the second largest carrier in Philadelphia but is dwarfed by the hundreds of daily flights from American Airlines.
There have been several attempts by airlines to serve Wilmington in recent decades, and while Avelo has only been in the Delaware market for six months, passenger traffic during that period has exceeded forecasts and led to additional service.
The Delaware River and Bay Authority has teased the latest announcement in the past week and invited Facebook followers to suggest possible destinations ranging from Las Vegas to a small city in West Virginia.
