The US’s newest startup airline Avelo has today launched ticket sales on its website ahead of its first commercial flight later this month. Tickets start from $19 for a one-way flight on all routes. The airline’s first flight will operate between Burbank and Santa Rosa on April 28th.
At 08:00 PDT this morning, Avelo air officially starting taking bookings on its website. According to its website, the airline is the first new mainline airline in the US in nearly 15 years. Today, it got one step closer to actually taking flight by launching ticket sales for flights from its Los Angeles Burbank base.
Route details
Avelo will launch flights to 11 destinations across the west of the US:
- Arcata / Eureka, CA
- Bend / Redmond, OR
- Bozeman, MT
- Eugene, OR
- Grand Junction, CO
- Medford, OR
- Pasco, WA
- Phoenix / Mesa, AZ
- Odgen, UT
- Redding, CA
- Santa Rosa, CA
Flights to Phoenix and Santa Rosa will operate daily, while the flight to Ogden will operate six times a week. The airline will operate flights three times a week to Pasco, Bend/Redmond, and Redding. All other destinations will be served four times a week.
Additional costs
The current schedule allows booking up until September 15th. All flights start from $19 one-way and will be operated by single-class Boeing 737-800s configured with 189 seats. The airline hopes to keep prices down and offer low-cost, simple travel without sacrificing customer experience.
Part of their promise to keep prices down is to make bag fees and additional fees clear and affordable. A check-in bag costs $10, while taking a bag in the cabin will cost $35. Priority boarding costs $10, and reserving a window or aisle seat costs just $5. The airline will have 60 seats with an additional pitch which will cost $18 to reserve. Most interestingly, the airline will charge $95 to bring your pet into the cabin.
A gap in the market?
In a statement announcing the ticket launch Avelo Founder, Chairman, and CEO Andrew Levey said,
“People are ready to reconnect with family and friends and explore new places. Avelo is a different and better kind of airline, built from scratch to offer an affordable, convenient and caring travel experience […] After more than 20 years of steadily shrinking consumer choice, the American flying public wants and deserves more options and lower fares.”
Avelo was actually set to launch a year ago, but Levy chose to delay the launch as the dramatic drop in demand due to the pandemic did not seem a good time to launch a new airline. As demand is now slowly starting to pick up, Avelo will welcome its first customers with a snack and some hand sanitizer. All passengers must wear face masks.
Levy believes the time is right for the new airline as there is a gap in the market for connections to smaller airports. Most travelers heading to smaller airports would first have to travel to larger hubs such as Salt Lake City and Denver.
Levy has 20 years of experience in the industry, having helped launched Allegiant air and spending time as CFO of United Airlines. The Avelo fleet of three Boeing 737s and the growing travel demand might see him head up another successful airline. With tickets now on sale, we will have to wait and see.
What do you think of Avelo? Do you think there is a gap in the market for the airline to become successful? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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