Avelo Airlines to stop flying ICE deportation flights

by · UPI

Jan. 8 (UPI) -- Avelo Airlines, an ultra-low-cost airline, announced it will end its contract with the U.S. government to conduct deportation flights.

The airline had been flying deportees for the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security since May.

The company announced Tuesday that it's closing its Mesa, Ariz., operations, which is from where ICE flights depart, and it will lay off people based there.

It will also close its bases in Raleigh-Durham, N.C., and Wilmington, N.C. Avelo will continue serving Raleigh-Durham, N.C., from New Haven, Conn., and Rochester, N.Y. It will also continue serving Wilmington, N.C., from Nashville, Tenn.; New Haven, Conn.; Tampa, Fla.; and Washington, D.C./Baltimore, Md.

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"We moved a portion of our fleet into a government program which promised more financial stability but placed us in the center of a political controversy," CEO Andrew Levy said in an email to employees Tuesday, CNBC reported. "The program provided short-term benefits but ultimately did not deliver enough consistent and predictable revenue to overcome its operational complexity and costs."

The shift will bring job cuts, Levy said.

"Some transfer opportunities will be available, but we will need to reduce the number of positions due to our smaller fleet and network," Levy told employees.

The airline also agreed to return six of its Boeing 737-700 airplanes.

The company's decision to contract with the government for deportation flights sparked backlash, boycotts and protests.

At the time, Levy said the government contract was made for financial reasons. Public records show that ICE awarded CSI Aviation a contract now worth more than $560 million. CSI is the company that manages the Avelo flights.

"We realize this is a sensitive and complicated topic," Levy said last year in a statement, The Washington Post reported. "After significant deliberations, we determined this charter flying will provide us with the stability to continue expanding our core scheduled passenger service and keep our more than 1,100 crewmembers employed for years to come."

The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA said it supports the decision to end the ICE flights.

"We're hopeful that with the end of the ICE flying and new financing, the future is more stable for flight attendants at Avelo," the union said in a statement.

Andrew Willis Garcés, senior strategist with Siembra NC, a North Carolina-based advocacy organization, told the Post that the decision is "a victory for the thousands of people who have been protesting the airline for most of the last year, and all of their bases all over the country."

In July, Avelo pulled out of the West Coast, ending service in California, Oregon, Washington and Nevada.

Avelo announced in September that it had ordered 50 new Embraer E-195-E2 planes, with purchase rights for 50 more for $4.4 billion.

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