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“Talking Transportation”
By Jim Cameron
President
CAMERON COMMUNICATIONS INC
Author: “Off The Record: Confessions of a Media Consultant”
Connecticut’s favorite local airline, Avelo, is in trouble for making a strategic business decision: taking a long term contract with ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to fly deportation flights for the Department of Homeland Security.
Starting in May they’re dedicating three of their twenty 737 jets to fly from Mesa AZ to destinations both in the US and overseas (presumably flying over the “Gulf of America”), possibly even heading to El Salvador to deliver deportees to prisons there.
The public reaction, while understandable, is misplaced.
Avelo has enjoyed amazing success flying out of New Haven’s Tweed airport, growing from 50,000 passengers in 2019 to a current 600,000 happy flyers. They fly to 31 different destinations and have recently added flights from Bradley airport.
The convenience of flying from a local airport and the super low fares have made Avelo immensely popular, so the deal with ICE has some fans upset. It’s almost as if Patagonia took a contract to design prison guard uniforms: it’s way “off brand”.
But remember, Avelo is a common carrier airline. Their business is flying planes, not passing judgement on passengers or destinations. They’ve flown hundreds of charter flights for everything from sports teams to tour groups. They’ve even flown deportation flights for ICE during the Biden administration… and nobody complained.
In fact, Avelo started as a charter airline, Casino Express (later renamed as Xtra Airlines), ferrying gamblers to Nevada. They even provided charters for the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016. This is their business: flying.
Avelo has been receiving financial support from the state in the form of a tax exemption on its aviation fuel. The City of New Haven has been fawning over them as a hometown success story (even though the airline is officially headquartered in Texas). But all that has now changed.
Now there are calls for a passenger boycott and financial penalties. But hey… isn’t this anger misplaced?
If you’re upset with ICE’s deportations, isn’t your anger better directed at them? Where are the legal appeals? Penalizing or boycotting Avelo won’t stop the deportations.
There are many US-flagged airlines taking the ICE charter contracts, including the reinvented Eastern Airlines which converted a 767 used for The New England Patriots to handle deportations to Brazil and Venezuela.
Avelo says this deal with ICE was a business decision. Though profitable, Avelo (like other no-frills airlines) pinches pennies. They don’t fly everywhere, every day… only on the heavier travel days when they can pack their planes and make a buck.
Taking on the ICE charters, they say, is a way of subsidizing their low fares as we face an economic recession and keeping their employees on payroll. In fact, they’re looking to hire new flight attendants for their Mesa AZ operations, paying $28 an hour.
If protesters would “read the room” they’d realize that many of Avelo’s passengers probably support the deportations. After all, President Trump is only doing what he promised and what got him elected.
As I’ve said before, Americans deserve the government they elect.
Jim Cameron is founder of the Commuter Action Group and advocates for Connecticut rail riders. His weekly column “Talking Transportation” is archived here. You can contact Jim at CommuterActionGroup@gmail.com.
