AVELO AIRLINES ANNOUNCES $69 FLIGHT FROM BROWNSVILLE TO LAS VEGAS

 

From Rio Grande Guardian:

BROWNSVILLE, Texas – Following on from its “wildly successful” flights to Burbank, California, and Orlando, Florida, Avelo Airlines is launching a nonstop Brownsville to Las Vegas route.

Starting Sept. 8, Mondays and Fridays, air passengers will be able to fly direct to the entertainment capital of the world for a low, introductory, one way, fare of $69.  

A news conference to announce the route and the fares was held at Brownsville-South Padre Island International Airport on June 22. Appropriately, Elvis was in the building. 

“This is a momentous day for the Brownsville community,” Brownsville Mayor John Cowen, Jr., said, from the podium. “Avelo Airlines’ decision to establish a third (direct) route connecting us to the City of Las Vegas not only represents a vote of confidence in our city but also a great opportunity for economic development and tourism.”

Cowen added: “This is an exciting time for City of Brownsville, Texas, and we are proud to see our Brownsville-South Padre Island International Airport airport grow.”  

Interviewed by the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service after the news conference had ended, Cowen said Avelo is building on the momentum achieved with its first routes from Brownsville.

“They (Avelo) have shown that this market is an untapped resource for the airline industry. I think they’ve experienced very strong success with their Burbank and Orlando flights and they know Vegas will be even stronger. They know that this is a very good bet for them.”

Cowen said he and Brownsville City Manager Helen Ramirez visited Avelo’s Houston headquarters last week to meet with their CEO and executive team. 

“They announced this (Brownsville to Vegas route) to us last week. So they’re moving fast. They’re agile. And we’re reacting to them as well. And so we’re being good partners, and I think we’re very well positioned for success here.”

Cowen pointed out that the Brownsville routes are the only ones Avelo flies out of Texas. He said the airline is looking to grow out of Brownsville. “Hopefully, one day, Brownsville will be a base for them,” Cowen said. 

Asked what he meant by “base,” Cowen said: “Having their crew operate out of here. Instead of the other cities that we fly to.”

Asked if the arrival of Avelo in Brownsville shows that it was a good decision, a few years back, to improve the infrastructure and facilities at the airport, Cowen said: 

“It shows that there is a huge demand for air service out of Brownsville. I know our numbers show that we lose about 60 percent of our traffic to other airports in the Valley. So this is all about retention of what we already have. So I think being enable to grow that, being able to use this as a selling tool for corporate investors as well, as they will have more connectivity now, and also for quality of life (shows that expanding the airport was a good thing). People want to get out and experience easy destinations to get to and I think Vegas is top of the list for a lot of people.”

Asked about his 60 percent remark, Cowen confirmed that 60 percent of Brownsville residents that fly use other airports in the Valley. 

“And it’s because of lack of options. So this (new destination via Avelo) will just help retain that existing business that we are currently losing to other airports.”

Asked where travelers can currently fly directly to from Brownsville, Cowen said Burbank and Orlando with Avelo, Houston with United Airlines, and Dallas with American Airlines. 

Avelo perspective

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Daniel Camejo is general counsel for Avelo Airlines. In an interview with the Guardian, Camejo said his company’s intention is to keep growing out of Brownsville. 

Camejo confirmed that it was the success of the Burbank and Orlando routes that led Avelo to add Las Vegas.

“We’ve had great load factors so far on both routes, nonstop to Burbank and Orlando. That is testament to the hard work of our crew members and to the partnerships we’ve developed here in the city. And today we’re announcing this third new nonstop route to Las Vegas and we hope to keep growing out of Brownsville.”

Camejo said the Las Vegas route will start with a low, introductory, fare of $69. 

“We’re known for everyday low fares and that’s our intention. We want to keep those low fares always down.”

Asked if there was anything else he would like to add, Camejo said: “We’re happy to be here and we’re excited about the continued growth out of Brownsville. We look forward to adding more frequencies and more new routes.”

Aviation administrator’s perspective

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Bryant Walker is assistant city manager for Brownsville and aviation administrator for Brownsville-South Padre Island International Airport. He gave an in-depth interview to the Guardian at the news conference.

“Today is very exciting. We have an Elvis in the building. We’re headed to Vegas. So, absolutely exciting,” Walker said. “Starting in September, Mondays and Fridays, you can get to Vegas. You get there early in the day so you have an extra day there to play. And, with the low fares that Avelo offers, I think that it (the Las Vegas route) it going to be very, very popular.”

Walker confirmed that it was the success of the Burbank and Orlando routes that caused Avelo to grow their footprint in Brownsville.

“So, we’ve been talking with Avelo for, well, months and months. And it was always said that depending on the performance of the Orlando and Burbank routes, that we would bring in another city. So they were not very definitive on what city or anything but they knew they wanted more routes,” Walker said.

“So, as we continued to talk and the routes that we have, the performance of those, showed that they were very successful, then we escalated those discussions.”

The discussions zeroed in on Las Vegas, Walker explained.

“We started talking about Vegas specifically. And so it has probably been for about a month and a half that we’ve really been focusing on that. And at the same time watching the performance of the existing routes. They’ve been wildly successful to this point.”

Walker urged the people of Brownsville to continue to fly with Avelo.

“We really need the community to continue to support (Avelo), to continue to travel. Honestly, it’s a great fit for the airport and for the community. These nonstop flights, going to both coasts and now to the entertainment capital of the world… this is ideal for the community and we just need to continue to support to make sure that (Avelo) sticks around.”

Asked to define “wildly successful,” Walker said: “Some of this is a little bit proprietary. But, the DOT will release the information within a few months. However I can tell you that the load factors for both destinations (Burbank and Orlando) exceed 90 percent. Continually.”

Walker said, typically, when an airline starts a new route, it will see load factors start off in the 50 percent or 60 percent area. And then they grow over time as people realize it’s a dependable route. 

“I think the (Brownsville) community has really been starved of these types of connections, and, honestly, of these fares. So, as soon as they came online, and the airline will actually tell you this themselves… as soon as they came online and started operating, their reservations went through the roof. We’ve just seen the community really come out and support it.”

Walker said he is confident Avelo will see the same results with its Las Vegas service. 

“In fact, Vegas, according to our data, is actually the stronger route of the three that we’re serving. So, I think we’ll definitely be able to enjoy it (the Las Vegas route) for a long time to come.”

Asked about Mayor Cowen’s comments that Brownsville is losing 60 percent of it air travelers to other airlines, Walker said: “So, prior to Covid, prior to the pandemic, we saw 70 percent flying out of other airports. We recovered ten percent during Covid. We’ve been able to reclaim some of our passengers back to this airport. So that 60% that we are leaking to other airports, we’re just going to be recovering it every day. We’re recovering more and more and more of those passengers because it (the service offered by Avelo) is more convenient. And it’s a better fare.”

Walker said his airport’s legacy carriers (United and American) are “amazingly dependable.” However, he said their fares are really aimed at the business community. 

“So, they’re less flexible. They’re not necessarily direct routes for where people are wanting to go, on vacation or to travel and certainly not visiting friends and family. So, business travelers don’t mind connecting through those hubs (Houston and Dallas). So for the community, they really want these direct flights to the places they want to go to and and having a low cost carrier come in and serve those nonstop routes, that’s going to be the key to recovering the traffic and providing the right fit for the travel option for our community.”

Asked what Brownsville-South Padre Island International Airport’s next goal is, Walker said: “The next destination we would like to get to would probably be in the northeast but I can’t really pin it down. We have very good connectivity now to the west coast. I think that we really need to either look at the extreme northwest, like Seattle or Portland maybe, or we need to look into the northeast and maybe the Michigan area or even somewhere like Newark.”

Walker added: “I think those are the areas we will be targeting. But, we will have to sit down and see how these flights perform in conjunction with the other flights; (we need to look at) how much traffic we begin to recover and see where they (the air travelers) are connecting to. So, we will sit down with our consultants and look at the data. Like our city manager, Helen Ramirez, said, all the decisions we make are data driven. We don’t just randomly try things. We actually do targeted efforts. So, yeah, that’s the direction we’ll go.”

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