Avelo Airlines shelves 2 routes at Melbourne airport. Where does Daytona airport stand?
DAYTONA BEACH ― One month after Avelo Airlines launched nonstop service at Daytona Beach International Airport to both New Haven, Connecticut, and Wilmington, Delaware, the ultra-low-cost carrier says it is pleased so far with its performance here.
That's not the case at Melbourne Orlando International Airport, a two-hour drive south of Daytona, where Avelo last week announced its decision to end its twice-weekly nonstop service to Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina. It also confirmed it has "postponed indefinitely" plans to offer nonstop Melbourne-to-Wilmington, Delaware, flights.
The shelving of the two routes at Melbourne leaves the Brevard County airport with just one Avelo route: its twice-weekly nonstop flights to and from New Haven.
Here's what we know so far about the airline's decision and what it means for Daytona.
It boils down to how many seats are filled
Greg Donovan, airport director at Melbourne airport, told Florida Today, a sister publication to The Daytona Beach News-Journal, that low passenger demand was the reason for Avelo's decision to end nonstop service on two of its three planned routes at the municipal airport.
Avelo flights to and from Raleigh/Durham only filled 30% of the available seats. Advance ticket sales on flights from Melbourne to the Philadelphia/Wilmington market were so low, the airline never went ahead with plans to launch those twice-weekly flights on June 28.
"Unfortunately, the demand for Philly/Wilmington, DE, and to Raleigh-Durham, NC, did not materialize as expected," Avelo spokeswoman Courtney Goff told Florida Today. "New Haven is performing better."
Avelo: So far so good at Daytona airport
Avelo launched twice weekly nonstop service at Daytona Beach to New Haven on June 22, the day after it began flights to that destination at Melbourne. It added twice weekly flights at the Volusia County airport to Philadelphia/Wilmington, on June 23.
As of this week, Avelo flights at Daytona have been filling an average of 97% of available seats to and from New Haven and 89% to and from Philadelphia/Wilmington, Goff told The News-Journal on Monday. "Our Daytona Beach service is doing very well."
Avelo's quick decision in Melbourne came despite incentives
Both Daytona and Melbourne airports offered economic incentives to convince Avelo to give them a try.
Daytona airport's incentives included a $1 million "revenue guarantee" meaning Avelo could tap that fund up to that amount to cover operating costs if it failed to make minimum revenue goals from ticket sales in its first two years.
Melbourne airport's incentives came in the form of waived landing, terminal and ground-handling fees for Avelo's first two years, as well as pledges by the airport authority board and Space Coast Office of Tourism to spend a combined total of $275,000 to promote its service.
Passenger traffic has been on an upswing at both airports
Daytona airport saw its passenger traffic numbers in 2022 improve to 586,118, which worked out to an average of about 1,600 a day.
Melbourne airport saw its passenger traffic numbers improve last year to 701,257, an average of more than 1,900 a day.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Avelo shelves 2 routes at Melbourne airport, but what about Daytona?
