Avelo Airlines kicks off commercial air flight from the Wilmington Airport next week.
The inaugural flight to Orlando February 1st is almost full, says Head of Avelo Marketing Travis Christ, and other flights through the end of May are filling up too.
“For an airline when you add service to a new city, there is no guarantee that people are going to show up, especially at the beginning," Christ says. "And so I can tell you for the Wilmington flights to Florida, that the flights are looking quite full in many cases, and the bookings are coming in quite strong every day, and so we are quite pleased with that.”
Christ notes that Orlando is the most popular destination thus far – Avelo is offering a total of five – Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Orlando, Tampa and West Palm Beach.
One way tickets are as low as $59 – one of the benefits to flying in and out of a smaller airport, Christ says.
More destinations are possible should booking trends continue. Christ notes Avelo’s growth in other areas like New Haven, Connecticut, where they started with six destinations in 2021 and have since expanded to 14.
“It’s no secret that, in the airline business, that strong demand begets more service," Christ says. "So, if that were to be the case, if this continues and the bookings come in, sure, there’s a good chance that we would add more flights. There is plenty of infrastructure at Wilmington, we know there is a strong population base, we’ve had a really nice response so far.”
Previous attempts to provide commercial flights from Wilmington airport have proven short-lived - most recently Frontier Airlines, which discontinued flights last May after just 2 years.
