Avelo shelves 2 of 3 debut routes at MLB, unloads last N.C. tickets for $19

Avelo Air is encountering turbulence trying to establish a service foothold at Melbourne Orlando International Airport — two of the fledgling airline's three initial routes are already grounded.

Touted by Space Coast officials, Avelo announced it would debut in Melbourne during a splashy April news conference. By June 28, the low-cost carrier planned to launch nonstop twice-weekly flights to a trio of destinations: New Haven, Connecticut; Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; and Wilmington, Delaware.

However, those Wilmington flights never materialized. They remain postponed indefinitely because of passenger-demand issues, said Courtney Goff, Avelo's communications manager.

And Wednesday, airport Executive Director Greg Donovan announced the Raleigh-Durham route will cease next month until further notice. Why? Ticket sales only reached the 30% range of passenger capacity, he said.

"Unfortunately, the demand for Philly/Wilmington, DE, and to Raleigh-Durham, NC, did not materialize as expected," Goff said in a Thursday night email statement.

"New Haven is performing better, and we're evaluating next steps. We're working with our airport and community partners to determine next steps and what caused the poor demand," Goff said.

Avelo’s website now offers tickets to and from Raleigh-Durham for only three more dates: Monday, July 28 and 31. One-way ticket costs earlier this week: a rock-bottom $19. Those prices increased Friday morning after FLORIDA TODAY published this story online.

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"Some of these carriers, particularly Avelo, who's two years into its business model: The time frame for them to establish a route is very, very short before they move to something else," Donovan said during Wednesday's Melbourne Airport Authority meeting.

"Raleigh-Durham did not perform very well on its first sets of flights. And I think we're going to see that wind down here in August. Whether that comes back or not is still to be determined," he said.

Donovan said Avelo may ultimately pull the plug on the Raleigh-Durham route, or "they might stop it and try to dial it in seasonally."

Headquartered in Houston, Avelo debuted as a low-cost carrier in April 2021. The founder, chairman and chief executive officer is Andrew Levy, who was previously co-founder and president of Allegiant Air and chief financial officer at United Airlines. Avelo has flown nearly 3 million passengers on more than 20,000 flights, all nonstops. The company continues to expand, serving 46 destinations in 25 states.

During the April MLB press event, Goff said the airline was flying 15 Boeing 737 aircraft, each capable of carrying 147 to 189 passengers, with plans to boost its fleet to 20 planes by year's end. The airline maintains bases of operation in Orlando, New Haven, Raleigh-Durham, Wilmington and Los Angeles, with a sixth base planned in September in Las Vegas.

Avelo's inaugural Melbourne flight touched down June 21 from New Haven. Donovan said those twice-weekly Connecticut flights, which fly on Wednesdays and Saturdays, continue to perform well.

Overall, year-over-year domestic passengers at the Melbourne airport are up 22% since June 2022, Donovan said. Including international flights, the airport saw 347,663 total passengers during the first half of this year. That's up 4.7% from 332,172 passengers during that same six-month span in 2022.

Allegiant Air is launching new nonstop twice-weekly flights from Melbourne to Allentown, Pennsylvania, starting on Nov. 17.

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Wednesday, Avelo announced it will launch nonstop service from Orlando International Airport to Central Wisconsin Airport, midway between Stevens Point and Wausau. The expansion boosted Avelo's Orlando slate to 14 nonstop flights — including New Haven, Wilmington and Raleigh-Durham.

Donovan has said Melbourne's airport traditionally loses nearly 80% of the passengers within its catchment area — or surrounding geographic vicinity — to far-larger Orlando International Airport.

Last year, the Orlando airport recorded 50.2 million travelers. The first quarter of this year saw 14.3 million passengers, the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority reported. That's a 22% increase compared with last year as travel demand continues rebounding after the COVID-19 pandemic.

In May, the Melbourne Airport Authority approved a two-year lease agreement with Avelo. This standard new-airline agreement calls for the airport to waive landing fees, terminal fees and ground-handling fees for two years. Those waivers were projected to total $281,000, based on Avelo operating four flights per week year-round.

The board also approved $75,000 for an advertising firm to market Avelo's three inaugural routes. The advertising campaigns, slotted at $25,000 per route, were scheduled to launch in May and extend through Dec. 31.

On a larger scale, the Space Coast Office of Tourism initially planned to provide about $200,000 in marketing assistance.

"We are pulling back dollars we intended on spending in Wilmington and Raleigh, but are continuing with our support of the New Haven route," Space Coast Office of Tourism spokesperson Meagan Happel said.

"We are also hopeful that other markets of interest will emerge in the coming months, and are prepared to support those as well," Happel said.

Melbourne Mayor Paul Alfrey, who serves on the airport authority, said he does not know details of Avelo's decisions. During Wednesday's meeting, Donovan touted a Floridarentals.com survey that ranked Melbourne No. 1 out of 19 Florida airports, based on criteria such as average delay per flight, percentage of canceled flights, and number of hotels and room costs within a 5-mile radius.

“We're one of the top airports in growth and in management, and we'll continue to attract new flights. We look forward to more flights and a brighter future," Alfrey said during a Thursday interview.

An airport grassroots campaign has advertised Avelo locally on social media, on drink coasters at downtown Melbourne bars, and in flyers inserted in about 58,000 water bills mailed to customers of Melbourne's utility system.

"From the launch from Raleigh-Durham, they just didn't see the passenger demand, just to put it bluntly. The airport can do only so much," Donovan said after Wednesday's meeting.

"We're going to work with Avelo — any of the airlines — to find what works. It's an ongoing science," he said.

Business Editor Dave Berman contributed to this story. Rick Neale is the South Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here.) Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @RickNeale1

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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Avelo's Melbourne flights to NC, Delaware shelved due to low demand