Hello, Avelo! Low-Fare Airline Lands at DBIA

Residents of Connecticut looking for warmer temperatures and ocean breezes will soon have a direct route to a new haven.

Avelo Airlines begins twice-weekly service from New Haven, Connecticut, to Daytona Beach International Airport June 22, becoming the first low-fare airline to bring flights to Volusia County’s airport.

“We are proud to be the newest airline to Daytona Beach International and the first low-fare carrier here,” said Avelo spokeswoman Courtney Goff at a media event April 5.

The discount airline offers fares as low as $49 and plans flights between New Haven and Daytona Beach on Thursdays and Sundays.

Goff said DBIA was a good fit for Avelo because the facility is “easy, convenient, making getting in and out quick and easy and that’s how we operate.”

Avelo operates a fleet of Boeing Next-Generation 737 aircraft and serves 41 destinations across the U.S., including its five bases at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Burbank Airport, southern Connecticut’s Tweed-New Haven Airport, Orlando International Airport, the Delaware Valley’s Wilmington Airport and Raleigh-Durham International Airport.

“This is a great day for the traveling public,” said Karen Feaster, airport director. “It really opens up Daytona Beach and Volusia County to travelers who have an additional option to get here.”

Feaster said the announcement was the culmination of hard work and building relationships.

“That is what our team has been doing,” she said. “It can take several years to get an airline to commit. We’ve been talking to Avelo for several years now.”

Feaster said the airport and Avelo will cooperate on efforts to ensure the success of the new flights.

“For airports to secure new routes and continue existing service, it is so important for our visitors to use the service,” she said. “To help ensure the success of the routes, we are partnering with Avelo on a marketing campaign.”

Cyrus Callum, Volusia County director of aviation and economic resources, said the announcement is significant beyond expanding the airport’s service offerings.

“I like to say that I have the best of both worlds,” he said. “I have the airport and I have economic development and this is a joining of those purposes. I get to unite airports and economic development because airports are economic engines.”

Callum said study by the Florida Department of Transportation prior to the Covid-19 pandemic found the airport had an economic impact of $2.1 billion to Volusia County.