Avelo Airlines Drops Six Routes at Concord Airport, Including Newly Launched Flights

Six flight paths from Concord-Padgett Regional Airport will stop on April 28. The cuts affect both brand-new routes and some that never started.

"Poor performance indicators" caused the cancellations, said Courtney Goff, spokeswoman for Avelo, to the Charlotte Observer. The flights "weren't booking in a normal pattern."

The airline will stop flying to Nashville, Albany, Lakeland, Daytona Beach, Washington Dulles, and Detroit. Nashville and Daytona Beach flights started just weeks ago, while plans for Washington Dulles and Detroit never took off.

Passengers can still fly to four places: New Haven, Manchester-Boston, Rochester, and soon, Long Island. The Texas-based company will keep its workers and planes in Concord when the new service starts May 22.

Lakeland Linder International Airport took a hit from these changes. "It was a very poor performing route with low passenger loads," said Airport Director Kris Hallstrand to The Ledger.

Since starting in Concord last May, Avelo has moved 65,000 people on over 550 flights. Just last month, they made Concord a major stop, bringing in two Boeing 737s and promising 50 new jobs.

At Lakeland's airport, half of the first eight Avelo routes have stopped since June. Yet seven cities remain on the map, plus two new stops in Grand Rapids and Long Island coming this summer.

As routes shrink, Avelo starts a different job. They'll run deportation flights for U.S. Immigration Control and Enforcement from Arizona in May.

"We realize this is a sensitive and complicated topic," said Andrew Levy, Avelo Airlines CEO, to Queen City News. "After significant deliberations, we determined this charter flying will provide us with the stability to continue expanding our core scheduled passenger service."