Avelo CEO dishes on new Las Vegas base, hints at international expansion

Ultra-low-cost startup Avelo Airlines has ridden a surge of momentum since its launch in 2021, growing to a network that now includes 44 cities within the U.S.

Avelo has no plans to stop. It is now setting its sights on a city known for its blinding lights, gambling and speedy weddings: Las Vegas.

The airline announced plans on Thursday to turn Las Vegas into another one of its bases, offering a total of five routes to the city.

Starting in September, Avelo will fly to Las Vegas from Brownsville, Texas; Dubuque, Iowa; Redmond, Oregon; and Arcata/Eureka, California. Avelo already flies between Las Vegas and Santa Rosa, California.

Las Vegas will become Avelo's sixth U.S. base and the second base the startup has added within this past year. (Avelo made Wilmington, Delaware, a base earlier this year.)

Avelo CEO Andrew Levy said adding Las Vegas to the carrier's map was a natural next step as the company expands its focus on popular leisure-oriented destinations like Orlando, where the carrier has already added a number of new routes this year.

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"Connecting many of our cities that we serve today into Las Vegas is, in our view, a pretty low-risk proposition," Levy said. "It just makes sense."

Similar to Orlando, Las Vegas is another popular destination for ultra-low-cost carriers that target leisure travelers. However, Levy said he isn't worried about Avelo competing in a saturated market with budget rivals like Allegiant Air, Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines.

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"We're very well-positioned to compete," he shared. "Anywhere we go into, we realize that there's a possibility someone might come in and top us, and we're very comfortable with that."

In continuing what has been a rapid expansion, Levy even hinted at the possibility of Avelo growing its map to include destinations like Puerto Rico and Mexico — possibly as early as 2024. For now, though, he stressed that Avelo is in no rush to expand internationally.

Avelo initially registered to fly internationally, allowing it to chart a future where popular leisure destinations near the U.S. could join its map.

"We'll see," Levy said. "We have so many opportunities that we are pursuing. And international may complement that at some point in time. But I don't know exactly when."

Despite adding a slate of new destinations and flights connecting the airline's network, Avelo does not plan to add any long-haul routes to Las Vegas or any of its other leisure destinations. Its business model primarily hinges on shorter flights between smaller cities and leisure ones.

Levy said he does not see the carrier adding a route between Las Vegas and New Haven, for example, because of the distance. New Haven is the carrier's biggest East Coast hub.

"If the data changed in a way that suggested that our highest and best use of our asset would be to fly long-haul, cross country, then I'd be there in a heartbeat," he said.

As the new Las Vegas flights get off the ground, Levy says he expects Avelo's focus to turn more to filling out its route map than expanding it. He says the airline plans to "connect the dots" between the 44 markets it already serves with new routes among those markets.

"We're about to start to harvest some of the work we've done over the last two years, and adding a market like Las Vegas is exactly what that is," Levy shared. "It's harvesting what we're doing."

Schedule details for Avelo's new Las Vegas flights

• Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport (STS): Avelo's existing schedule of two weekly flights will increase to four starting Sept. 8, 2023 (Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays).
• Redmond Municipal Airport(RDM): Twice-weekly service begins Sept. 7 (Thursdays and Sundays).
• Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport (BRO): Twice-weekly service begins Sept. 8 (Mondays and Fridays).
• California Redwood Coast-Humboldt County Airport (ACV): Twice-weekly service begins Sept. 8 (Mondays and Fridays).
• Dubuque Regional Airport (DBQ): Twice-weekly service begins Sept.13 (Wednesdays and Saturdays).

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