Avelo ending flights at Melbourne Orlando International Airport after only seven months
Goodbye, Avelo.
Avelo Airlines is ending flights at Melbourne Orlando International Airport after only a seven-month run, citing unexpectedly low passenger demand and "underperforming" future bookings.
The low-cost carrier previously announced plans to establish a foothold on the Space Coast by launching a trio of twice-weekly MLB nonstop routes in late June: New Haven, Connecticut; Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; and Wilmington, Delaware.
Splashy "Hello, Avelo!" advertisements touted the new flights, offering fares as cheap as $49. But the Wilmington flights never materialized because of passenger-demand issues, company officials said. Raleigh-Durham flights halted within two months after ticket sales only reached about 30% of passenger capacity.
And as of Wednesday morning, the Avelo website only listed seven more New Haven flights, spread out across the next six weeks.
"We have decided to end service at Melbourne Orlando International Airport effective Saturday, January 6," Courtney Goff, Avelo communications manager, said in an email.
"We will still be flying from now through January 6, but that will be the last date to book. Unfortunately, MLB has not generated the demand we expected and has been underperforming in future bookings," Goff said.
"This was not the outcome we envisioned when Avelo took flight at MLB in June. All Customers who have tickets booked past January 6 have been notified about this news with their options for a refund or to reaccommodate to flights from Daytona Beach (DAB) or Orlando International (MCO)," she said.
Avelo serves 44 destinations in 23 states and Puerto Rico, a Tuesday press release said. Since its April 2021 debut, the airline has flown more than 3.5 million customers on more than 27,000 flights, operating a fleet of 16 Boeing 737 aircraft.
FlightGlobal reported Tuesday that Avelo is dropping four flights, including Melbourne-to-New Haven, and seasonally suspending nine more routes because of poor local demand and jet maintenance.
However, Avelo reports it expects to fly more than 100,000 passengers on nearly 800 flights during the 13-day Thanksgiving travel period from Nov. 16 to 28. That's nearly a 65% passenger boost compared with the same period last year.
Airport 'disappointed' by Avelo's decision
Greg Donovan, executive director of the Melbourne airport, said he welcomes future partnerships with Avelo, and "expanding air service offerings to the Space Coast is a priority and a goal we continue to pursue."
"As a newly established airline, we believe Avelo is simply repositioning aircraft to test additional markets to identify the most lucrative routes. Our Avelo routes were successful, however we understand that maximizing yield and profitability is critical to their success," Donovan said in an email.
"For example, there was an average 87% passenger load factor between Melbourne and New Haven but the airline, who has complete control of the price of the ticket, was not satisfied with the yield," Donovan said.
Regardless of Avelo ending service, the Melbourne airport remains on track to break its annual record for passenger volume, thanks to a stream of TUI Airways tourists visiting from the United Kingdom.
As of September, MLB personnel handled 582,873 incoming and departing passengers this year. That's a 6.7% increase compared with 546,212 passengers during the same span last year. Domestic total passengers were up 14.1% during that timeframe (378,434 versus 331,587).
Allegiant Air launched a new twice-weekly nonstop route from Melbourne to Allentown, Pennsylvania, on Friday. Allegiant also restarted its seasonal nonstop flights to Nashville, Tennessee, on Thursday.
In addition, American Airlines will start offering seasonal flights linking Melbourne with Washington, D.C., from Feb. 17 through May 4 on Saturdays and Sundays.
"We are certainly disappointed to learn of Avelo's decision to suspend service to MLB in January, however we believe we have established a successful relationship with our partners at the airline and would welcome additional flights in the future," Donovan said via email.
"When they are ready to resume flights to MLB, we will be ready," he said.
Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here.) Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Avelo ending service at Melbourne airport, effective in January
