Avelo says pound sand to CT AG not happy with deportations
- Guy
- Apr 18
- 1 min read
Connecticut's favorite local airline Avelo, based at Tweed Airport in New Haven, is under attack. Connecticut Attorney General Tong and other Democrat politicians are unhappy that the airline is running deportation flights for the Federal Department of Homeland Security (ICE). Starting in May Avelo will be dedicating three of their twenty 737 jets to fly from Mesa, Arizona to overseas destinations such as El Salvador.
Avelo has enjoyed amazing success flying out of New Haven's Tweed airport in CT to 31 destinations growing from 50,000 passengers in 2019 to 600,000 today. The city of New Haven had been fawning all over them as a hometown success story. Indeed, Avelo has received financial support from CT in the form of a tax exemption on its aviation fuel.
But all of that has changed. Now there are calls by Democrat Attorney General Tong for a passenger boycott and financial penalties. Avelo says its deal with DHS was a business decision. Taking on ICE charters is a way of subsidizing their low cost fares.
AG Tong shot off a letter to Avelo demanding a respond within a week. Its list of demands included a copy of the contract with DHS, passenger ages, flight origins, and a promise that Avelo would not operate deportation flights from any airport in Connecticut. Avelo's responded in a letter that essentially said pound sand.
Between the Lines. During the Biden Administration, Avelo flew deportation flights for ICE...and nobody complained then.