Houston-based Avelo Airlines has announced it would close its base at the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport in California shortly after agreeing to operate deportation flights of illegal immigrants for the Department of Homeland Security.
The base closure comes nearly a year after it was opened due to low demand and less-than-satisfactory profits, according to an ABC7 News report.
The ultra-low-cost carrier will begin deportation flights out of Phoenix-Mesa Airport in Arizona next month. Avelo will also open a new crew base at the airport to support these flights.
The move has prompted backlash with a Change.org petition garnering over 32,000 signatures threatening a boycott of the carrier until it reverses its decision.
“We demand that AVELO AIR halt plans to carry out deportation flights in cooperation with the Trump Administration,” the petition stated. “We pledge to boycott the airline until they stop plans to profit off ICE flights that are tearing families and communities apart and removing some legal residents, such as Maryland father Kilmar Abrego Garcia, with no recourse for returning to their families.”
On March 15, Garcia was deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to El Salvador, where he is currently detained in the Center for Terrorism Confinement prison. Garcia, an El Salvadoran citizen residing in the U.S., was granted protection from deportation by a judge in 2019, according to NPR.
His deportation has since been the subject of a lawsuit appealing to the Supreme Court, where his lawyers are arguing he was illegally removed from the U.S. The four-page appeal stated Garcia has lived in the U.S. for nearly a decade and has never been charged with a crime.
The U.S. alleges he is a member of the MS-13 gang and has argued he was rightly deported.
The Change.org petition cited a “leaked internal memo” that states Avelo’s deportation flights will help make up for losses at Tweed New Haven Airport in Connecticut. Yale Daily News in New Haven, Connecticut, has reported on the memo confirming this information with Avelo.
According to the report, Avelo CEO Andrew Levy wrote to employees saying the airline did not meet expectations in Q1 2025. This lines up with several other U.S. carriers, which have seen an industry-wide drop in demand and revenue due to aviation safety concerns, poor weather, and economic woes.
“Avelo has taken full advantage of a two year fuel tax moratorium from the State of Connecticut to expand its operations at Bradley and Tweed airports,” the petition stated. “On June 30th, six weeks after Avelo starts ICE flights, the free pass on Avelo’s fuel tax bill in Connecticut expires. We further demand that the CT legislature NOT renew this massive tax cut for Avelo that would effectively provide [a] state subsidy for Trump Administration deportation practices.”
Pushback from Lawmakers
Connecticut’s Senate Democrats have condemned Avelo for agreeing to operate the deportation flights, while state Senate Republicans have condemned democrats for overregulating a private business.
AirlineGeeks has reached out to Avelo for comment.
