Avelo Airlines is backing away from the ICE deportation flight business, and the implications are bigger than one carrier ending one controversial contract. This is about how a small airline tried to buy stability, got swallowed by politics, and is now retreating like a dog with its tail between its legs.
Avelo Ends ICE Deportation Flying, Closes Arizona Base As Controversy And Costs Mount
As flagged by Enilria, Avelo Airlines will cut ties with ICE and end the charter flying it has been operating for deportations, a relationship that has drawn protests, negative press, and sustained blowback since it became public. According to Axios, the airline will also close its base at Mesa Gateway Airport (AZA) outside of Phoenix, Arizona on January 27, 2026, which is where these flights have been based.
Avelo CEO Andrew Levy said that these flights “provided short-term benefits” but ultimately did not deliver enough “consistent and predictable revenue” to justify the operational complexity and costs. That is a telling admission, because it frames this as a business decision, not a moral epiphany.
Even so, the politics were never incidental here. Levy also told employees that Avelo “moved a portion of our fleet into a government program” that “promised stability” but instead placed the airline “in the center of a political controversy.”
That tracks with what we have watched play out in real time, including the campaigns, protests, and very visible pressure aimed at Avelo for associating itself with deportation flying. I have covered this before, including Avelo’s white-painted aircraft tied to the program:
- Whiteout: Avelo Covers Livery On Aircraft Used For ICE Deportation Flights
- Avelo Airlines Sued By Aviation Blogger Turned Politician Over Billboards Attacking ICE Deportation Flights
Avelo Shifts To New Bases, New Strategy
Avelo is not a typical charter operator. It is a scheduled, consumer-facing airline that sells itself on friendliness and affordability, then found itself operating flights that many customers and communities view as inherently coercive. That is not a brand-neutral activity, and it quickly became clear this would be the sort of reputational tax that did more harm than good.
Of course, ending Avelo’s participation does not mean deportation flights end. But it does represent another change in strategy for Avelo, which abandoned its original hub at Hollywood-Burbank (BUR) last year in order to pursue “greener pasture” on the East Coast. Now comes more base closures.
The most immediate passenger-facing impact is the Mesa Gateway closure. But it will also close its bases in Raleigh-Durham (RDU) and Wilmington, Delaware (ILG). These base closures have ripple effects, including aircraft and crew repositioning, network changes, and the inevitable schedule churn as an airline resets. If you are flying Avelo in or out of Arizona later this month, watch for schedule updates, which Avelo warns will be significant for impacted airports.
Also, will MAGA now boycott Avelo, viewing this change as a slight to ICE and President Donald Trump? Seth Miller, the New Hampshire blogger-turned-politican who lit the fire under Avelo for its ICE flights says, “It is good to see a company dropping out of the business, and paying a price for its participation along the way.” Judging by the recent Hilton controversy this week, Avelo may only be on the tip of the iceberg of “paying a price” for its deportation flights.
CONCLUSION
Avelo’s move to end ICE deportation flying is a pragmatic retreat from a deal that offered short-term cash but long-term headaches. When the revenue is not stable enough, the costs are higher than expected, and the controversy becomes the story, the logical choice was to suspend that activity.
A bigger question is what replaces it: will other commercial operators step up and operate these flights? And will this trio of base closures and focus on the East Coast lead to sustained growth for Avelo?
What percentage of Americans support deporting illegal aliens? The only reason you use the word, controversial, is that a tiny percentage of people are over represented by the screaming click bait media trying to paint the majority as outliers and vice versa. Deportations are not controversial.
According to polls, a majority do. However, a well-funded and media supported effort to oppose the deportation of aliens who are here illegally (focused on those who commit crimes) has made this appear to be a 50-50 issue. Which it is not. Avelo seems to be a poorly run enterprise and I think we’ll eventually be seeing them on an upcoming edition of Airlines We Lost.
What the polls actually show is that most Americans want comprehensive immigration reform, including rigorous AND humane enforcement of our laws, including due process for those ‘alleged’ to be here illegally, not for a paramilitary to be extrajudicially killing or renditioning anyone they deem ‘other.’ It’s not about media; this is indeed ‘real.’
Pew Research last month:
On immigration, Trump is doing too much 53%, about right 36%, too little 10%.
Illegal immigrants should be deported: All 31%, some 51%, none 17%
Agree with Trump immigration policy: strong agree 24%, somewhat agree 15%, somewhat disagree 14%, strongly disagree 36%.
Draw your own concludions.
The ‘price’ literal and figurative is gonna be steep for all those individuals and groups, especially corporations, who choose appeasement and self-interest, enabling these fascists. They cannot claim ignorance; they all knew better. A shameful era. Lots of work to do to clean this up and never let it happen again. Hopefully stop and solve sooner than later.
Can you please clarify which laws should be enforced and which laws should be ignored?
Seems to me that an illegal alien who has committed a crime or someone with a deportation order issued by a judge no longer has the right to live in the US.
What if a person convicted of a felony refuses to report to jail after they are convicted?
Should we just shrug our shoulders and allow them to be free?
Can you please ask a genuine question?
Due process, 5th and 14th Amendments, would be a great start.
Use of excessive force, extrajudicial killings and renditions to foreign gulags is clearly not lawful.
Less strawman arguments, what-ifs, and what-about-isms, would be swell, too.
Let’s start with enforcing the laws trump broke and was convicted of by a jury
Yes, please.
Don’t forget DHS purchased six 737s for deportation flights. Daedalus Aviation will operate those aircraft. Seeing the writing on the wall was probably another reason Avelo bailed.
Wonder how much Daedalus donated to Trump’s campaign, and how much of his crypto currency they bought… probably still a decent return on investment for them. *facepalm* FOLLOW>THE>MONEY.
as much as some want to make it political, Avelo’s only reason to walk away from ICE flights was financial.
They are absolutely correct that it is not a consistent flow of decent revenue. There are simply better places where scheduled service has the hope of being better for any company.
And Avelo undoubtedly told DHS that the work wasn’t sustainable which is why DHS bought its own 737s. Government doesn’t have to e efficient w/ how it uses assets but private enterprise does.
Tim, everything to do with people, resources, power, culture, etc. is inherently political. We can’t ‘just doing business’ our way out of this anymore. Avelo was struggling as a startup to begin with; their involvement with these particular charters was out of desperation.
It’s never good business to work with a group that murders innocent people.
Seriously. What a disgrace. Shame.
What about following the law..If illegal and commit a crime deport or jail.. That goes for the peeps owning daycares in MSN getting lots of taxpayer funding and no kids in the school.. also getting paid to transport kids with no kids in the vans… And all of the other healthcare etc scams being committed…