Avelo isn't Southwest, but the budget airline could lead to more Knoxville airport growth

McGhee Tyson Airport has scored a new airline for the first time in over a decade, a sign that Knoxville's growing base of business and leisure travelers is attracting carriers just as the airport embarks on a decade of construction to meet demand.

Avelo Airlines, a budget airline established in 2021, will offer flights on Thursdays and Sundays to Tweed-New Haven Airport in Connecticut beginning May 9.

With more customers and a chance to prove demand for another airline, the announcement is a step toward attracting more flights and potentially other airlines.

Hello, Avelo! What to know about the ultra low-cost airline coming to the Knoxville airport

Although it's a new flight for Knoxville, the route was created because New England tourists are clamoring for more ways to get to Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

"We're the destination, not the other way around," Brian Simmons, chair of the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority's board of commissioners, told Knox News.

The last time Knoxville got a new airline was Frontier Airlines in 2011. Along with Allegiant, which made Knoxville a base in 2018, the "ultra low-cost carriers" helped McGhee Tyson recover its pre-pandemic traffic and then exceed it.

Avelo is another budget carrier offering cheap domestic travel with a unique flight that could keep some passengers from driving to Nashville or Atlanta to fly.

The airport announced the new service on Feb. 6, hailing Avelo as an affordable and reliable airline and New Haven as a gateway to New England, New York City and a bustling business corridor.

New Haven is about a two-hour drive from the Big Apple, an hour drive from the University of Connecticut, less than an hour drive from ESPN and NBC Sports headquarters, and only a 10-minute drive to Yale University, its most famous institution.

More importantly for Avelo is the draw of Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Pigeon Forge for Connecticut travelers, who listed East Tennessee as a favorite destination in surveys, said an airline spokesperson.

One-way tickets to New Haven will be as low as $62 for a limited time, according to a press release, and can be purchased at AveloAir.com. Avelo is the only airline that flies into and out of Connecticut's second-largest city.

Here's what the news means for McGhee Tyson and for Knoxville.

Avelo isn't Southwest, but it could attract other airlines to Knoxville airport

The news disappointed some who hoped the airport had secured Southwest Airlines. For many passengers, that's the white whale of their airport wish list, easy to chase after but difficult to catch.

The decision is up to airlines, which want to be confident that an airport can fill their planes before adding flights. Simmons, chair of the airport board, said in a press release that Avelo was "a meaningful step forward in our efforts to recruit flights."

McGhee Tyson is in contact with Southwest and other airlines, trying to market Knoxville as a steady source of passengers. The airport has an incentive program approved by the Federal Aviation Administration, which can include waiving or reducing fees and community sponsorships.

In 2022, the airport's marketing budget included $240,000 for its airline incentive program.

Just because another airline chose Knoxville as a destination doesn't mean other airlines will line up to do the same. But it does increase McGhee Tyson's customer base and reputation as an airport that meet the needs of airlines, Simmons said.

"I think we're an attractive market on its own. Having one airline come, does that entice another airline? I'm not sure. It does help us in terms of our profile," Simmons told Knox News. "Airlines are surveying the market, so it can only help us."

In 2023, McGhee Tyson saw a record 2.81 million passengers. Its current terminal building was built for up to 2.6 million passengers a year, and soon will be expanded. First, the airport will build a six-story, 3,500-space parking garage by 2026, and will then add six gates to the terminal building by 2029.

Avelo has not pushed the airport to its limit, Simmons said, and McGhee Tyson could add more airlines before the terminal is expanded.

"We don't have to wait. If another airline wants to come tomorrow, we can satisfy them and help them," Simmons said. "We're not limited by facilities at this point, but we are planning for the future. We're planning for more growth, more parking, for the terminal. We are getting ahead of it."

Southwest added 1,300 crew members and four gates at Nashville International Airport last August, making the Music City a crew base and keeping a stream of Southwest loyalists driving across the state for a flight.

McGhee Tyson now offers nonstop flights to 28 destinations on six airlines: Allegiant, American, Avelo, Delta, Frontier and United.

Avelo is starting small in Knoxville, but could add more flights

Avelo's new nonstop flight will be the first to connect Knoxville to Connecticut. The twice-weekly flight will be seasonal, and could show Avelo whether there is demand for more flights.

The airline's fleet has 16 Boeing 737 Next Generation planes, some that carry 147 passengers and some that carry 189 passengers.

"We're confident that we'll be able to fill that, but we do go twice weekly just to ensure that we are filling up the planes," Courtney Goff, a spokesperson for Avelo, said. "We can have daily service, but if we're not filling up the planes, it's just wasting time and wasting gas."

Avelo has pulled out of small regional airports before, like when it ended service from Lexington, Kentucky, in February 2023 after flights to several Florida airports were not as full as expected.

"The last thing that we want to do is go way too strong and too fast, where the market's just not ready or they're a loyalist to another carrier," Goff said. "We want to make sure that the first route that we launch is well received and we know that New Haven is a little bit different."

The next destinations Avelo offers from Knoxville could be Wilmington, Delaware, or Wilmington, North Carolina, Goff said. The airline might offer any in a series of short flights between small airports in the Eastern U.S., if there is demand from Knoxville travelers.

Before the announcement was even made on Feb. 6, Goff said five or six passengers already had booked the flight online.

Avelo does not offer cross-country flights, which would drive up its prices and disrupt its business model.

Why Connecticut as a destination could be good for Knoxville

New Haven could connect University of Tennessee fans to one of the greatest rivalries in all of college sports, the UT-UConn women's basketball rivalry.

The first showdown between the teams was in 1995, and it spurred a growing interest in women's basketball under legendary coaches Pat Summitt and Geno Auriemma.

UT faced UConn four times under Lady Vols coach Kellie Harper, though the series was discontinued for the 2023-24 season with no sign of return.

Only one major Knoxville employer is headquartered in Connecticut, and that's Subway. Still, the flight to New Haven will connect businesses in Knoxville with businesses in Connecticut, greater New England and New York City.

"The greater New York metro area is a huge destination for Knoxville business travelers and leisure travelers, but it's also the greater New York area that has come in to East Tennessee to do business and to have fun, so having another option is really key," Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon told Knox News.

Stamford, home to NBC Sports and a host of other businesses, is a short drive from New Haven. Some local business connections with Connecticut might not exist yet, but could come about through the new flight, said Doug Lawyer, vice president of economic development at the Knoxville Chamber.

“Businesses want to locate in communities that are growing,” Lawyer said. “A whole new airline coming in validates in another way that Knoxville is a great spot to do business. I think (for) the existing businesses in our market, obviously a new connection might open up some new markets for them.”

One small group is happy Avelo came to Knoxville

One local group is particularly happy with the new flight: Yale alumni.

"For me personally, this is tremendous," said Misty Anderson, head of the English department at UT and and a Yale alumna. "A lot of my research life unfolds at Yale to this day in the Beinecke Library, and the Yale Center for British Art, as well as the Lewis Walpole Library. These are tremendous archival resources."

Anderson has a college reunion coming up this year, and she won't have to drive to Nashville to catch her flight up to New Haven.

But for her, the appeal of the city goes beyond her personal connection.

"Yale is its own kind of cultural center with great theater and an extensive library and museum network," Anderson said. "It's gonna be great for graduate students in the humanities at the University of Tennessee."

Daniel Dassow is a growth and development reporter focused on technology and energy. Phone 423-637-0878. Email daniel.dassow@knoxnews.com.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: What Avelo Airlines flight at McGhee Tyson means for Knoxville airport