Avelo Airlines to offer nonstop flights from Jacksonville to New Haven starting Feb. 14 (Courtesy of the Jacksonville Daily Record) — Jacksonville International Airport is adding a new carrier offering nonstop flights to New Haven, Connecticut.
Houston-based Avelo Airlines will start service Feb. 14.
The twice-weekly flights will operate Monday and Friday. For example, the Feb. 17 flight leaves Jacksonville at 11:20 a.m. and arrives at Tweed New Haven at 1:45 p.m. The Feb. 21 return flight leaves New Haven at 8 a.m. and arrives in Jacksonville at 10:35 a.m.
Tickets starting at $48 for a one-way flight to New Haven can be purchased at AveloAir.com.
“This is an important milestone, not just for the organization but for the community,” Tony Cugno, Jacksonville Aviation Authority’s chief operating officer, said Dec. 9.
“The reason why it’s important is the addition of new air service and new airlines help to drive and sustain long-term economic growth for the region, whether by businesses relocating to town or, more importantly, helping to sustain the vibrant tourist industry in Northeast Florida.”
Avelo will be the 10th carrier at JIA.
“I want to be the first to say, ‘Hello’ from Avelo,” said Mike Corcoran, Avelo’s director of network planning.
“Tell all your friends to give us a try. We’ll get you to where you want to go. We’ll get you there on time, which is most important and for a really inexpensive fare.”
Avelo Communications Manager Courtney Goff said the flights will be offered year-round.
She said New Haven is the airline’s largest base of operations, employing about 300 “crew members” out of about 1,000 employees.
“We are Connecticut’s hometown airline,” she said.
“We’ve been looking at the Northeast Florida region a lot, and it was just trying to find the time to go in,” she said.
“We’re a growing airline and want to make sure we have the airplane capability because we are continuously growing and acquiring more aircraft.
“We want to deliver a proof-not-promise method where, when we announce something, you’re going to be able to buy tickets and ensure you’re getting there. We have definitive start dates.”
Goff said adding more routes in Jacksonville will depend on how the New Haven flight “is accepted in the community.”
“We like to do a ‘crawl, walk, run’ method where we’re going to start with one route. We’ll see how that does. The next step is usually frequency increases and then the next step is more routes,” she said.
“This is an important milestone, not just for the organization but for the community,” Jacksonville Aviation Authority Chief Operating Officer Tony Cugno said at the announcement that Avelo Airlines will start service to Jacksonville.
More aircraft in Avelo’s fleet will also increase the likelihood of additional routes. Corcoran said the airline’s goal is to add three more aircraft by the end of 2025. He is unsure whether Avelo will offer service out of Concourse B, which is under construction.
According to its website, the airline, founded in 1987, operates a fleet of 20 Boeing Next-Generation 737 aircraft that can seat up to 189 passengers.
According to its website, it serves 50 destinations across the United States, Jamaica, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.
It has six bases: Connecticut’s Tweed New Haven Airport; Hollywood Burbank Airport in Los Angeles; the Philadelphia and Delaware Valley region’s Wilmington Airport; Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina; Sonoma County (California) Airport; and Lakeland International Airport.
In Florida, Avelo also serves Destin/Fort Walton Beach; Daytona Beach; Fort Lauderdale; Fort Myers; Orlando; Sarasota; and West Palm Beach.
Avelo announced it will open its seventh and eighth bases at Charlotte, North Carolina’s Concord-Padgett Regional Airport on Dec. 4 and at Wilmington International Airport in spring 2025.
According to Anuvu, a provider of airline operations data, Avelo is ranked second for on-time performance and first for cancellation rates among 11 airlines, including Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Breeze Airways and Spirit Airlines.
New Haven’s Tweed-New Haven Airport is about 80 miles northeast of New York City.
This is not Avelo’s first attempt to offer service out of Northeast Florida. It had been in discussions to add service in 2023 to St. Augustine, but plans did not advance.
“During early 2023 the Airport Authority conveyed a proposal to Avelo that may have led to scheduled air service but Avelo declined the Airport Authority’s proposal and subsequently elected to initiate service in other markets,” the St. Johns County Airport Authority said in a March 2024 statement.
“The proposal included the Airport having offered to waive all of Avelo’s landing fees and offering to waive charges for Avelo’s use of the Airport’s passenger terminal building. Avelo’s decision was also informed by other air carrier’s prior unsuccessful attempts to establish economically sustainable scheduled air service at the airport.”
Avelo will be the second airline to offer nonstop service to New Haven. In August, Breeze Airways announced it will begin nonstop service there beginning Feb. 6.