NEW HAVEN — In its first 100 days serving Tweed New Haven Regional Airport, Avelo Airlines has spurred the creation of 100 new jobs at more than $20 million in local economic impact, within additional destinations coming soon, Chairman and CEO Andrew Levy said Thursday.
During Avelo’s first three months of service, it flew nearly 70,000 customers on nearly 600 flights to and from New Haven, Levy said.
Avelo began flying from Tweed, its East Coast base, to what are now six destinations in Florida on Nov. 3, 2021.
Avelo, which announced the service in May 2021, currently operates three 147-seat Boeing Next-Generation 737-700 aircraft at Tweed. The airline will be adding three more planes in the coming months — along with new destinations to locations other than Florida, Levy said.
He would not say which other cities Avelo will fly to from Tweed, which uses the booking symbol “HVN.” But a representative of Rex Development, Barbara Malmberg, told the East Haven Economic Development Commission earlier this week that Avelo soon will announce service to a Midwest destination.
Avelo has hired 109 New Haven-based crew members, including flight attendants, pilots, airport customer service representatives and operations-related roles, as well as managers and supervisors, the airline said in a release. It plans to hire at least 100 additional Tweed-based crew members by the end of 2022.
“I’m very pleased with the initial response to Avelo’s arrival at HVN,” said Levy. “HVN’s unrivaled convenience paired with Avelo’s exceptional reliability and affordability have made our airline an appealing choice for folks from across the region.
“We’re especially proud of Avelo’s remarkable HVN-based Crewmembers whose dedication to excellence and caring Soul of Service are fueling Avelo’s success,” Levy said in the release. “We look forward to continuing to invest in our team, this community and the state as we add more destinations, more airplanes and more Crewmembers in the months ahead.”
To celebrate the 100-day milestone, Avelo is offering a $49 one-way fare between Tweed and its six Florida destinations: Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Orlando, Sarasota / Bradenton, Tampa and West Palm Beach, Avelo said in the release. The fare is available at AveloAir.com.
“Simply put, the last 100 days have been incredible,” said Tweed New Haven Airport Authority Executive Director Sean Scanlon. “From 100 new jobs created to 70,000 people passing through our airport, we are so proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish these last three months.
“Working alongside our partners at Avelo Airlines and Avports, we’ve transformed HVN into the more vibrant airport Connecticut needs and we’ve always known it could be,” Scanlon said.
“We have known for nearly two decades that expanding and modernizing Tweed could be accomplished in a responsible manner and with a positive economic impact on New Haven,” said Mayor Justin Ecker. “Over the past 100 days, Avelo Airlines is showing just how accurate those projections were,” he said.
“In a little over three months, Avelo Airlines has demonstrated the value of Tweed to our economy,” said city Economic Development Administrator Michael Piscitelli. “With over 100 jobs and forecasted economic impact of well over $20 million, Avelo is a key part of New Haven’s national standing in innovation and inclusive growth.”
While Avelo has experienced some weather-related cancellations and redirected flights both in December and January and earlier this month — plus one flight that had to land at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks because of a possible bird strike — Levy said he’s satisfied with Avelo’s realiability so far.
“Despite the historic severe winter weather that pummeled the Northeast in January, Avelo has achieved an impressive level of reliability during its first three months of operations,” the airline said in the release. “When excluding weather-related cancellations outside Avelo’s control, the airline achieved a cancellation rate of less 1 percent between November and January.”
Avelo’s on-time arrival rate between November and January was more than 80 percent after excluding weather-related delays outside the airline’s control, it said.
Avelo is investing $1.2 million to help upgrade and modernize facilities and operations as part of an overall $100 million project at Tweed. The expansion, which airport operator Avports LLC is financing, will include a new terminal on the East Haven side of the airport and an extended runway.
Once the new terminal is compete, the runway has been expanded and the additional jobs have been added, the economic impact to the region has been forecasted to be over $275 million, Avelo said.
Avelo, which also offers service on the West Coast to and from Los Angeles’ Hollywood Burbank Airport, currently serves 18 destinations across the US It has committed to adding nine additional 737 NGs in 2022. It plans to double its network from 18 to at least 40 destinations by the end of this year, the release stated.
This story will be updated.
mark.zaretsky@hearstmediact.com