Avelo Airlines is the startup that launched operations out of its Burbank base in April 2021 (the airline also plans to open a New Haven base in the coming months). It’s the second newest airline in the United States, after Breeze Airways. Well, the airline has just announced four new routes, which sure are interesting…
In this post:
Avelo’s Burbank expansion
Avelo Airlines has revealed that it will launch four new routes from Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR), all with 189-seat Boeing 737-800s. The airline will fly:
- 2x weekly to Fort Collins, Colorado (FNL) starting October 6, 2021
- 2x weekly to Monterey, California (MRY) starting September 30, 2021
- 2x weekly to Provo, Utah (PVU) starting September 17, 2021
- 2x weekly to St. George, Utah (SGU) starting September 17, 2021
For some further context on these routes:
- Avelo Airlines will be the only airline to fly to Fort Collins
- Avelo Airlines will be competing with JSX on the Burbank to Monterey route, but the airlines are going after different kinds of consumers
- Avelo Airlines will be the second airline to fly to Provo, after Allegiant, which operates about a half dozen routes from there with limited frequencies
- Avelo Airlines will join the regional carriers of American, Delta, and United, in serving St. George, though none fly to the Los Angeles area from there
I don’t know what to make of Avelo’s growth
Usually I have an opinion (often wrong) about a carrier’s strategy or expansion, but with Avelo I’m just kind of sitting here watching, and not sure what to think. Avelo is no doubt adding value for consumers, operating routes that otherwise aren’t served — I mean, imagine how awesome this expansion is if you want to travel between the Burbank area and the Fort Collins area (however many people that describes!).
Allegiant has been very successful operating leisure point-to-point routes, but there’s one major difference between Avelo and Allegiant — Avelo is setting up bases out of which a majority of flights are operated, while Allegiant operates wherever the heck there’s demand.
Avelo will fly you from Burbank to all kinds of airports that otherwise don’t have nonstop service from the Los Angeles area, while Allegiant will fly you from Flint to Punta Gorda, St. Petersburg to Toledo, Wichita to Destin, and Appleton to Nashville. All at like 6AM on a Tuesday and 11PM on a Saturday (or something like that).
Obviously Avelo is still new, and it could be that the airline is growing into the Allegiant model. After all, Allegiant has some focus cities, because that’s just naturally how demand evolves. Furthermore, the process of expanding to the point where this can be done efficiently can be challenging.
My gut says that when it comes to point-to-point service, it makes sense to use the Allegiant strategy and fly just about anywhere, rather than sticking mostly to bases. But I suspect Avelo may eventually be working towards that.
Bottom line
Avelo Air is adding four new routes out of Burbank, to Fort Collins, Monterey, Provo, and St. George. All of these routes will be operated 2x weekly, and only the Burbank to Monterey route is currently served by another airline.
With this expansion, the airline will fly to over a dozen destinations out of Burbank. In addition to this, Avelo will be setting up a New Haven base this spring.
What do you make of Avelo’s expansion, and overall strategy?
(Tip of the hat to @IshrionA)
I live in Loveland and am beyond excited to see passenger air traffic return to FNL. The hassle of driving to DEN is immense, taking at least an hour plus $12 on the toll road, or 1.5 hours without tolls. Hopefully this will spur more carriers to serve the airport (looking at you WN). Also there is a significant leisure market with Rocky Mountain National Park being less than an hour away.
I'm pretty familiar with the markets in question in CO and UT and they all feature a lot of leisure and VFR travel from these locations to southern CA. In the case of Provo and SGU, people often make the long drive; however, an inexpensive short flight would be VERY attractive to consumers in these areas. As for Ft. Collins, it's a college town located in a catchment basin that has quite a few transplants...
I'm pretty familiar with the markets in question in CO and UT and they all feature a lot of leisure and VFR travel from these locations to southern CA. In the case of Provo and SGU, people often make the long drive; however, an inexpensive short flight would be VERY attractive to consumers in these areas. As for Ft. Collins, it's a college town located in a catchment basin that has quite a few transplants from southern CA. So, again, such a flight will attract leisure pax who are looking for a bargain. All 3 airports are easy to use and convenient. The only negative is that these flights are only 2x/week, but as there's no competition that shouldn't be an issue. \
Remember that many of these routes aren't about where people from "Burbank" (and that would include much of Los Angeles, the San Gabriel Valley, and farther parts of the Southland) want to go - it's more often about bringing people to that area.
I agree with you @stogleguy7 that their would be a market for people flying instead of driving to St. George and Provo. While Interstate 15 is not bad during good weather between Provo and St. George or even Vegas, once you start approaching Vegas the traffic gets worse and does not get better. You could drive from Barstow to Palmdale to Saugus down into the San Fernando Valley but that drive can be bad at...
I agree with you @stogleguy7 that their would be a market for people flying instead of driving to St. George and Provo. While Interstate 15 is not bad during good weather between Provo and St. George or even Vegas, once you start approaching Vegas the traffic gets worse and does not get better. You could drive from Barstow to Palmdale to Saugus down into the San Fernando Valley but that drive can be bad at times also. While people in St. George may just go ahead and drive, I would much rather fly from Provo to Burbank and avoid the drive.
Why do you call them Avelo Air instead of Avelo?
:-)
I'm just here for the shout out to my home town of Appleton (Wisconsin) :)
Honestly, people live for the non stops from ATW to LAS.
What are you talking about? Allegiant has bases where it bases its planes and crew and operates flights from those bases- normally leisure cities- to cities that generate demand to the leisure destination. Allegiant is a very well- managed airline, run by professionals who are extremely astute and very good at running a focused and consistently profitable airline. Your characterization of the airline is extremely misinformed and off base
Allegiant used to fly to FNL and left (I think they flew to LAS). They were set to return, but then the airport's new virtual tower was behind schedule (or something like that). Not sure what the status is now.
I'm not convinced the market is there yet. The argument is always made that it's easier to get to than DEN, but it is so limited in flights. DEN is probably only an hour...
Allegiant used to fly to FNL and left (I think they flew to LAS). They were set to return, but then the airport's new virtual tower was behind schedule (or something like that). Not sure what the status is now.
I'm not convinced the market is there yet. The argument is always made that it's easier to get to than DEN, but it is so limited in flights. DEN is probably only an hour past FNL (with good traffic). COS is farther (the other direction) and has a bigger population which makes it work for them.
Cheyenne in WY was promoting being an alternative to DEN, too, with a lot of connecting flights to DFW on AA. Not sure how that strategy has worked out. Guessing with Covid, not well.
Allegiant connects to large leisure area but with odd times and few flights per week.
This looks more like Spirit connecting to secondary airport hours away.
They are basically taking the worst of Allegiant and Spirit and combining them.
So unless their fares are very cheap I can see how it is worthwhile to deal with the inconvenience of a tiny airport 2 hours away vs. flying into DEN LAS SLC SJC and have...
Allegiant connects to large leisure area but with odd times and few flights per week.
This looks more like Spirit connecting to secondary airport hours away.
They are basically taking the worst of Allegiant and Spirit and combining them.
So unless their fares are very cheap I can see how it is worthwhile to deal with the inconvenience of a tiny airport 2 hours away vs. flying into DEN LAS SLC SJC and have abundant rental cars and backup plan when things goes wrong. But if I'm just going to be in Fort Collins or Provo and don't need a ride, I might consider them.
Now if they are operating with something much smaller than a 737-800, it might work.
Don't forget Avelo does have ex-Southwest 737-700 joining their fleet which was expected at New Haven, so who knows.
The Fort Collins area airport (FNL) is right in the middle of the cities Fort Collins, Loveland, and Greeley. It has actually become a very congested & highly populated area of Colorado and continues to grow like crazy every year. There are probably at least half a million or more people that are closer to that airport than DEN.
Fort Collins is a superb strategy. It's a booming city with HP there and has access to a large demographic. It is also closer for Cheyenne area travelers. I imagine this is a huge relief for the hundreds of thousands in that region that have had to travel to DEN. Even for Western Nebraska this is a useable airport.
They also have one of the best Bonvoy Autograph hotels in the country. Just an FYI...
Fort Collins is a superb strategy. It's a booming city with HP there and has access to a large demographic. It is also closer for Cheyenne area travelers. I imagine this is a huge relief for the hundreds of thousands in that region that have had to travel to DEN. Even for Western Nebraska this is a useable airport.
They also have one of the best Bonvoy Autograph hotels in the country. Just an FYI as I think you are not familiar with just how booming it is there, Ben.
Not just Fort Collins, but Boulder as it is just a short drive and a lot less hassle to drive Boulder to Fort Collins than Boulder to DEN.
Need to factor in city subsidies, which I imagine Aveo is receiving.