Avelo Airlines unveils its 11th Burbank route, second attempt at Arizona

It's shaping up to be a busy winter season for Avelo Airlines.

On Thursday, the new startup carrier announced its latest route from its West Coast base in Burbank. Service to Tucson, Arizona (TUS) will commence on Dec. 16, just in time for the busy winter holiday period.

Flights will operate twice weekly on Thursdays and Sundays aboard one of Avelo's 189-seat Boeing 737-800 aircraft, with additional frequencies on select Tuesdays and Saturdays around the Christmas and New Years' holidays.

The service is currently being marketed as seasonal, and a carrier spokesperson couldn't pinpoint an exact end date. "We think the route has strong potential through the winter and into the spring," the spokesperson said in a statement.

You'll find the full schedule for Avelo's new service below. To celebrate the launch, the airline is offering introductory one-way fares at just $29.

With plenty of outdoor activities and cultural events, Tucson fits into Avelo's leisure-focused route network. According to the airline's chairman and CEO Andrew Levy, "Tucson is not only a cultural mecca, but offers national parks, thriving food traditions and year-round events and entertainment we know our customers will enjoy. Traveling between Southern California and Southern Arizona has never been easier or more affordable."

Tucson will mark the airline's 19th destination served nationwide by Avelo, and its 11th from its Burbank hub. Interestingly, when the carrier launched its first tranche of routes in April, the airline was flying daily to Phoenix/Mesa (AZA).

Phoenix flights only lasted about four months, though, as the carrier abruptly tweaked its frequencies and then ultimately closed its station there. The airline isn't throwing in the towel on Phoenix completely though, as it said in a statement that "we will reevaluate returning to [the] market for the summer of 2022."

Either way, Avelo's clearly hoping to have better luck in Tucson.

Daily Newsletter

Reward your inbox with the TPG Daily newsletter

Join over 700,000 readers for breaking news, in-depth guides and exclusive deals from TPG’s experts

Email address

Sign up

By signing up, you will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.

The good news is that the carrier won't face any direct competition on its newest route, according to Cirium schedules. (In Phoenix, the airline went up against American, Frontier and Southwest.)

Related: A review of the startup airline Avelo

In fact, the only direct service between the greater Los Angeles area and Tucson is from LAX on either American, Delta or Southwest. For those living near Burbank, Avelo's nonstop will likely be more convenient than flying a legacy carrier from Los Angeles International Airport.

Department of Transportation data analyzed by Cirium shows that there were nearly 375 daily passengers flying between LAX and Tucson in 2019, so there's definitely demand in the market.

Adding Tucson to its route map comes as the carrier has made a slew of piecemeal tweaks to its network since commencing operations on April 28.

Related: What it's like flying with Avelo

On the West Coast, the airline dropped Grand Junction, Colorado (GJT), Bozeman, Montana (BZN) and Mesa/Phoenix, Arizona (AZA) from its launch markets, and later scrapped plans to fly to Monterey, California (MRY), and St. George, Utah (SGU). It has since added new service from Santa Rosa, California (STS) to Las Vegas (LAS), as well as a new route from LAS to the Redwood Coast-Humboldt County Airport (ACV) near the northern California town of Eureka, among others.

Next up for Avelo, however, will be its debut of service on the East Coast, which begins Nov. 3. There, the airline has been exclusively in growth mode. Avelo unveiled four routes to popular Florida cities from its new base in New Haven, Connecticut (HVN) in August, and later added a fifth route from the Tweed-New Haven Airport to West Palm Beach (PBI).