Avelo Airlines is adding a fifth route from New Haven to Florida

Avelo Airlines, one of the nation's new startup carriers, is gearing up for a splashy East Coast launch later this year.

In August, Avelo unveiled plans to establish a base in New Haven, with an initial tranche of four routes to launch beginning in November, to Orlando (MCO), Fort Lauderdale (FLL), Tampa (TPA) and Fort Myers (RSW).

On Wednesday, the carrier added a fifth route from the Tweed-New Haven Airport (HVN): to West Palm Beach (PBI).

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Service to PBI will begin on Dec. 16 aboard one of Avelo's 147-seat Boeing 737-700 aircraft. The flight will operate daily during the peak holiday period between Dec. 16 and Jan. 4, and it'll then drop down to five days per week, with the full schedule available below.

Adding service to West Palm Beach comes as the carrier goes all-in on Florida with its East Coast plans. All five New Haven routes are to the Sunshine State, which seemingly makes sense for a leisure-focused airline planning to commence operations in the winter. As Avelo described in its press release, it's pleased with the "positive response" it has received thus far for its East Coast plans.

Throughout the pandemic, Florida has seen a host of new air service, thanks to its pleasant weather, availability of outdoor-friendly activities and relaxed COVID-19 protocols.

In addition to the new PBI flights, Avelo will temporarily run daily service during the winter holiday period on its existing routes to Fort Myers (RSW) and Tampa (TPA). The extra flights on those routes begin Dec. 16 and will run through Jan. 4. You can find the full details of Avelo's East Coast expansion here.

While Avelo is pleased with its growth in New Haven, it has run into headwinds on the West Coast. Recently, the carrier scrapped its planned expansion from its Burbank (BUR) base to Monterey, California (MRY), and St. George, Utah (SGU).

“We will take another look at our plans for these two markets next spring,” a carrier spokesperson explained in an emailed statement.

In addition to scrapping plans to serve Monterey and St. George, Avelo is also delaying the launch of flights to Provo, Utah (PVU). Service was planned to commence on Sept. 17, but Avelo confirmed that it’s now been pushed to Nov. 15.

In early July, the airline quietly pulled flights to two of its 12 initial markets, Grand Junction, Colorado (GJT), and Bozeman, Montana (BZN). The airline also dropped service to Mesa/Phoenix, Arizona (AZA), but the carrier confirmed that will “reevaluate returning… for the summer of 2022.”

Avelo's West Palm Beach schedule

HVN — PBI 7 a.m. — 10:10 a.m.

PBI — HVN 10:50 a.m. — 1:40 p.m.

Daily from Dec. 16, 2021, to Jan. 4, 2022, then five times weekly (Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays)