Avelo Airlines, which has come under fire due to its contract to operate deportation flights for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, will cease serving Eugene in December, an airline spokesperson confirmed to KLCC Monday.
The decision is not specifically related to the backlash over the airline's connection to ICE, the company said. Avelo is closing its Burbank, California operations base and discontinuing all west coast flights.
"We believe the continuation (of) service from Burbank in the current operating environment will not deliver adequate financial returns in a highly competitive backdrop," Avelo spokesperson Courtney Goff said in an emailed statement to KLCC. "The aircraft in Burbank are expected to support growth in our East coast bases, where we have significantly more opportunity to continue our path to sustainable cash flow generation."
Currently, the airline flies from Eugene to Burbank about twice a week, according to schedules posted on the Eugene Airport's website.
Goff said Avelo's final day of service to Eugene is scheduled for Dec. 1.
"Customers have been notified about the changes to their reservations and all their refund options," she said.
Avelo has been under pressure to discontinue its association with ICE, and was the subject of a May 31 protest in Eugene. The city's alternative newspaper, Eugene Weekly, made it a point to purposely exclude Avelo in an article it published this spring about airline travel options from Eugene.
A group that organized protests against Avelo said the announcement was a sign that protests were working.
“Avelo continues to be a poorly financed, poorly managed company,” said Matthew Boulay of the Oregon-based Stop Avelo Coalition. “They took the ICE contract out of desperation—and now it’s backfiring, because passengers and cities want nothing to do with them.”
A Eugene Airport official said Avelo notified the airport Monday of its decision to discontinue its Eugene service.
Avelo's closure of its west coast operations will affect several other Oregon cities, including Redmond, Medford, Salem.
Redmond and Medford are served by other airlines, but Avelo's departure will leave Salem without any commercial airline service.
