Airline ending deportation flights out of Mesa Gateway Airport

PHOENIX — Avelo Airlines announced that it well end all of its federal deportation flights from Mesa Gateway Airport later this month.

According to the budget airline, it will conclude its participation in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) charter program on Jan. 27.

“The program provided short-term benefits but ultimately did not deliver enough consistent and predictable revenue to overcome its operational complexity and costs,” Avelo Airlines Communications Manager Courtney Goff said in a statement to KTAR News 92.3 FM on Thursday.

When did the airline start its deportation flights out of Mesa?

According to the Associated Press, Avelo announced that it had signed an agreement with DHS to make charter deportation flights out of the East Valley airport.

Those flights officially began on May 12 and the airline said that it was using three Boeing 737-800 planes for the flights.

An online boycott petition began after the airline took place in the deportation flights. The union that represents Avelo’s flight attendants also criticized the move.

The airline’s founder and chief executive, Andrew Levy, said the reason Avelo Airlines participated in the flights was to expand the company and protect jobs.

Mesa was one of five hubs for ICE Air, the immigration agency’s air transport operation for deportations.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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