Why Is This Startup Airline Focusing on Deportation Flights?

Most of the time, startup airline Avelo provides low-fare service from places like Connecticut, California and Florida.

Three Avelo aircraft will begin operating out of Mesa, Arizona, next month. The planes, which are painted white and devoid of any insignia, are intended to transport migrants to detention facilities in the United States and to flights that deport them abroad.

Unusual for a commercial airline, Avelo’s choice to join President Trump’s divisive campaign against illegal immigration highlights the low-cost carrier’s financial difficulties.

For many years, ICE Air, the air transportation division of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement office, has mostly depended on a limited number of charter operators. Not many of the operators are well-known.

Industry officials familiar with the outreach said ICE Air has sought to broaden its operations by looking to other carriers. According to Tom Cartwright, an immigration advocate who monitors the flights, over 70% of ICE’s flights are operated by Global Crossing Airlines Group, or GlobalX, a rapidly expanding charter airline that has collaborated with collegiate athletic teams and celebrities like Lady Gaga and Bad Bunny.

The trips provide Avelo, a Houston-based airline that began operations in 2021, with a solution to a significant issue: It wants to increase its revenue.

The day after the arrangement was struck, Chief Executive Andrew Levy sent a message to staff members saying, “I understand some may view the decision to fly for [Homeland Security] as controversial.” “We decided this new opportunity was too valuable not to pursue, as it will help us stabilize our finances and allow us to continue our journey,” he added after much consideration.

Flying for ICE

The issue surrounding deportation planes is nothing new. These days, the agency has a deal with CSI Aviation, a broker, which employs a few charter airplanes to operate the flights. Every day, ICE uses about 12 planes that are positioned around the nation, and they conduct 60 to 70 missions worldwide every week.

According to federal records, CSI, a longtime ICE contractor, has inked contracts with the agency totaling over $650 million over the last three years.

There could be a larger pool of money on the line. Last year, during the Biden administration, ICE gave CSI a five-year, $3.6 billion contract. After a CSI competitor challenged the contract in court, the government ended it this month.

Requests for comment from ICE, CSI, and GlobalX were not answered.

With carriers assured payment for at least a minimum level of monthly flying, industry insiders believe that part of the attractiveness is the constancy of the employment. Additionally, there are severe fines for flight cancellations, which can reduce revenue.

Employees, clients, and authorities in the locations Avelo serves have criticized the company’s decision to handle ICE planes. Since many of the markets it serves are in liberal regions on the East and West coasts, its service routes have rendered it particularly susceptible to political backlash.

Legislators in Connecticut have threatened to end the aviation fuel tax suspension that allowed Avelo and other carriers to grow in the state when it ends in June. According to the union that represents Avelo’s flight attendants carrying passengers who are handcuffed and shackled—a common practice for ICE deportation flights—raises safety concerns since it will make it more difficult for them to respond to in-flight crises.

Outside Tweed New Haven Airport in Connecticut, where Avelo began flying nearly four years ago to local acclaim, protesters have assembled. In an online petition, over 34,000 people have pledged to avoid flying with the airline unless it changes its intentions.

Earlier this month, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong wrote to Levy, saying, “No business should be complicit in these flights, which are cruel by design and incredibly wasteful of taxpayer resources.” Avelo stated in a statement that it will be in contact with leaders and acknowledged the gravity of the complaints it had received in Connecticut and elsewhere.

In order to get migrants back to their home countries or to a military facility in Guantanamo Bay, the Trump administration first mostly depended on the military to replace some ICE Air flights. However, a Wall Street journal research found that those flights cost more than private charter operations.

The number of deportation flights is just slightly more than it was the previous year, despite Trump’s efforts to tighten immigration enforcement. Based on Cartwright’s data, there were 134 deportation flights in March.

Protecting the business

According to GlobalX, it began operating ICE flights in 2023. Recently signed government contracts will offer a “consistent, predictable, and reliable foundation of revenue,” according to a March investor presentation.

According to Cartwright, the majority of ICE Air’s flights were formerly operated by IAero Airways and its precursor, Swift Air. In 2023, IAero declared bankruptcy and subsequently went out of business.

According to bankruptcy court records, the carrier earned approximately $4 million per week, or between 30% and 50% of its revenue, at one point, flying an average of 60 sorties per month for ICE.

According to Avelo, it operated these charters under the Biden administration as well.

“Regardless of administration or party affiliation, our practice is to say yes when our country calls and requests assistance,” the business stated.

Avelo’s company is currently facing strain. Because it spends more than it makes from customer tickets, the company has had to raise money from investors on several occasions.

Levy informed staff that although the airline’s losses were reduced to almost break-even last year, the first quarter of this year was a disappointment. Competitors at New Haven and other surrounding airports are posing a greater threat.

The airline plans to resume its capital-raising strategy this summer, but it was put on hold due to worsening business conditions.

“We want a portion of Avelo’s revenue to be immune from these issues,” Levy wrote.