Cool: Avelo Airlines Adds Lakeland Base, With Eight Routes

US ultra low cost carrier Avelo Airlines has just revealed its latest expansion, including creating a new base in Florida, which I’m particularly fascinated by.

I understand these route additions might not be interesting to the average person, though as someone who has lived in Florida for most of my life, I find this to be pretty noteworthy (and as I’ll explain below, there’s a special reason I’m intrigued by this).

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Avelo Airlines sets up base at Lakeland Airport

Avelo Airlines does a great job creating bases at underserved airports, by presumably starting with an attractive cost structure, and looking at regional travel patterns to see where there might be demand.

Last month (in June 2024), Avelo launched a new route between New Haven, Connecticut (HVN), and Lakeland, Florida (LAL). While New Haven is an existing airport for the airline, Lakeland is new.

For those not familiar, Lakeland is located between Tampa and Orlando (a bit closer to the former than the latter), which are of course two big population centers in Florida. What’s most exciting is that this is the first commercial service that Lakeland Airport has seen in over a decade.

There’s now an interesting update, as Avelo is significantly expanding its presence in Lakeland. The airline is going from operating a single route to the airport, to setting up a base there.

The airline now plans to operate eight routes from the airport, as you’ll be able to fly between Lakeland (LAL) and:

• New Haven, Connecticut (HVN) — 2x weekly, and this route already operates
• Concord, North Carolina (JQF) — 2x weekly, as of October 24, 2024
• Manchester, New Hampshire (MHT) — 2x weekly, as of October 25, 2024
• Rochester, New York (ROC) — 2x weekly, as of October 25, 2024
• San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU) — 2x weekly, as of October 26, 2024
• Atlanta, Georgia (ATL) — 2x weekly, as of November 7, 2024
• Wilmington, North Carolina (ILM) — 2x weekly, as of November 7, 2024
• Hartford, Connecticut (BDL) — 2x weekly, as of November 8, 2024

Avelo will operate all of these routes with its fleet of Boeing 737s, which are in a single class layout. The new flights are already on sale, and as you’d expect, fares are quite attractive.

Will commercial service to Lakeland succeed?

I grew up in Tampa, and have been obsessed with planes since a young age. As an introvert, I never really enjoyed summer camps, with one exception. One summer, I went to an aviation camp of sorts at Lakeland Airport (Sun ‘n Fun), which I enjoyed greatly. So it’s cool to think that this airport not only has commercial service, but will also soon be the base for an airline.

Now, I’m very curious to see how Avelo’s service at the airport evolves. In this case you’re connecting a small, mostly unknown airport, with several other airports. Some markets are major (like Atlanta and San Juan), while some are smaller airports closer to larger metropolitan areas (like Concord and Wilmington).

The argument in favor of flying to Lakeland is that it “offers travelers a refreshingly small, easy, and fast alternative hometown airport experience to the much larger and busier airports in the region,” and that its “location along the I-4 corridor makes it the most travel-friendly gateway to and from Central Florida.”

On the surface, setting up a base in Lakeland seems like a challenge:

• Avelo also flies to Tampa and Orlando, so the airline is now adding service to a third airport in the area
• Neither Tampa nor Orlando have airports that are at capacity, so the airline could simply add more flights there
• The population in the immediate vicinity of Lakeland isn’t huge
• With just twice weekly flights, there’s not much schedule flexibility; furthermore, since many people will need to rent a car from Lakeland, it won’t be practical for most to do a one-way rental and return it at another airport, as that’s often more expensive, negating any savings

That being said, Avelo seems to be succeeding with setting up bases at new airports, and I’d say it’s awesome for consumers. Presumably the airline is getting significant incentives from the airport and local community, so Avelo probably has an unbeatable cost structure for these routes. Furthermore, since the airline adds significant service in these markets, it also spends money on marketing, so the local community is aware of this service.

In an industry that’s largely otherwise lacking with innovation nowadays, I think what Avelo is doing is truly unique, unlike so many other low cost carriers. The airline is trying to create new markets, rather than just trying to steal market share in existing markets.

Bottom line

Avelo Airlines recently launched flights to Lakeland, Florida, marking the airport’s first commercial service in a decade. I guess the airline sees this service expanding, as Avelo is now setting up a base at the airport, and will operate eight routes, going everywhere from Atlanta, to San Juan, to Wilmington.

I can’t wait to see how this plays out, and I continue to be impressed by Avelo’s creativity, and willingness to try new things.

What do you make of Avelo’s plans to create a base in Lakeland?