Avelo Airlines announced a slew of new domestic and international destinations.
The ultra low cost carrier will start offering flights to three new destinations in the late spring including Long Island MacArthur Airport in Islip, Gerald R Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, and Lynden Pindling International Airport in Nassau, Bahamas.
Grand Rapids
Grand Rapids will be served twice weekly from Raleigh Durham International Airport in Raleigh North Carolina and Lakeland Linder International Airport in Lakeland, Florida.
The Raleigh – Grand Rapids route pairing will begin on May 25th, 2025 and will fly on Tuesdays and Thursday.
The Lakeland – Grand Rapids route pairing will start on June 13th, 2025 and will also fly on Tuesday and Thursday.
Islip
Out of the three new departure cities, Islip on Long Island will be getting the most new service.
Avelo will fly to Islip from Lakeland International Airport, Wilmington International Airport and Charlotte’s Concord-Padgett Regional Airport.
The Islip – Lakeland route pairing will fly on Thursdays and Saturdays beginning June 12th,2025.
Flights from Wilmington to Islip will start on June 12th also. They will be flown on Thursdays and Sundays.
The Charlotte – Islip route will be offered on May 22nd, 2025, flying on Thursdays and Sundays
Nassau Bahamas
Nassau in the Bahamas will be getting only one new route pairing to start.
From Raleigh Durham International Airport, service to Nassau will start on June 11th,2025. This route pairing will be flown on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
What does this mean for Avelo Airlines Customers?
Long Islanders are going to be thrilled.
The last year has been excellent for Long Islanders and Long Island MacArthur Airport. The airport for a long time only had one major airline, Southwest. Southwest only connected Long Islanders to Baltimore and to Florida. Breeze and Frontier then joined Southwest. But in 2024, JetBlue entered the fray and now in 2025, service from Avelo will start.
Avelo is capitalizing on a market opportunity by providing service to North Carolina. This is unmarked territory for any airline besides Breeze, who does focus on the Middle Atlantic states from Islip.
Dipping their toes in Michigan again?
Avelo has tried, and tried again in Michigan. They had routes fail in Lansing and Kitchener. Their only active destination in Michigan for Avelo is Traverse City.
It seems that the Grand Rapids addition is an added push for the airline to get a presence in Michigan. Avelo is also trialing service to Detroit.
As Grand Rapids and Detroit are larger cities, maybe the demand in those areas will keep Avelo there permanently.
But, Grand Rapid seems like a great choice for Avelo. Allegiant maintains a significant service offering in Grand Rapids. Avelo will likely challenge them for part of the budget airline market share at the airport.
Avelo’s international presence taking shape
Avelo has only recently started international flights. The inclusion of international travel has diversified the airline from its indirect competitor, Breeze Airways. Breeze hasn’t begun offering international travel. It appears that Avelo has taken initiative to get the leg up on that competition.
Nassau will be Avelo’s 4th international destination. In the past year, they have added Cancun, Montego Bay and Punta Cana.
