Low-cost airline slashes routes to use planes for migrant deportations

Avelo Airlines, a popular low-cost airline headquartered in Houston, Texas is slashing multiple routes to make way for migrant deportation flights in light of a recent contract the company signed with the Department of Homeland Security. The airline has signed an agreement for a 'long-term charter program' flying for DHS's Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, Avelo communications manager Courtney Goff confirmed to DailyMail.com. The operations will be based out of Mesa Gateway Airport in Arizona and routes will be domestic and international to 'support the Department's deportation efforts.'

Avelo currently doesn't have a base in Arizona, but stated they are hiring a crew to begin operations on May 12. As a result of Avelo's controversial new business venture, the airline was forced to shut down operations at the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa (STS), California . 'Avelo has decided to close the base in Santa Rosa / Sonoma County (STS) almost a year after it was opened due to low demand,' Goff said in a statement.

Avelo customers could previously fly out of the Santa Rosa airport to locations across the country, including, Boise, Idaho , Salt Lake City, Utah , Kalispell, Montana , other California airports, and even Ontario, Canada . Flights to local airports including Los Angeles , Redmond, Las Vegas , and seasonally to Palm Springs will still run, however, all other flights and the base program are set to close. Current Avelo crew members and employees based out of STS can transfer to other locations and will have priority over new applicants in Arizona.

'We also recognize some will not relocate, and we will, unfortunately, have to say goodbye to some great Crewmembers,' the statement added. Avelo is already hiring a crew to run the deportation flights, posting a job application for a flight attendant based in Mesa on April 3. The description called for 'energetic, highly motivated' flight attendants who are ready to join a 'committed group of safety and service professionals.' 'This opportunity is for a charter program for the Department of Homeland Security. Flights will be both domestic and international trips to support DHS's deportation efforts,' the description also noted. The starting pay for the position is $28 per hour with a minimum monthly guarantee of 75 hours.

Avelo Airlines founder and CEO Andrew Levy acknowledged the 'complicated' topic of deportations in a statement. 'We realize this is a sensitive and complicated topic. After significant deliberations, we determined this charter flying will provide us with the stability to continue expanding our core scheduled passenger service and keep our more than 1,100 Crewmembers employed for years to come,' he said. Tom Cartwright, a flight data analyst who tracks ICE Air flights with Witness at the Border , said it was unusual for a commercial airline like Avelo to sign a contract with DHS. 'They may fly a flight with all migrants or deportation flights today and they might fly fans to the Masters golf tournament tomorrow,' he told local news outlet North Bay Business Journal.

Typically, DHS and ICE use charter companies to deport migrants, instead of commercial airlines that require passengers to purchase tickets. Cartwright estimated that almost 80 percent of ICE deportation flights were run through the charter company Global Crossing Airlines, also known as GlobalX. The Trump administration used GlobalX to deport hundreds of Venezuelans to El Salvado r in March, despite a federal court order blocking the move . In a recent investigative piece for ProPublica , seven flight attendants with the charter company revealed the strange and cruel nature of the flights.

A flight attendant who went by the name of Lala told the publication that she left the company after a little girl had a medical emergency on the flight and ICE agents forced her dad to return to his seat instead of accompanying his daughter to the hospital. The flight attendants also told ProPublica that the migrants were chained while onboard and the crew was forbidden from speaking to the passengers. They added that they applied for GlobalX after advertisements boasted the charter company would serve high-profile passengers, but were shocked when a majority of their flights consisted of deportations.

Cartwright told local Arizona NBC affiliate, KYMA , that he believes DHS is spending between $25 to $35 million a month and hundreds of millions of dollars a year on chartering deportation flights , according to his tracking data. He added that Guatemala had the largest deportations, with Honduras the second largest, and El Salvador third. Cartwright said that the 'public deserves a right to know' what's happening on deportation flights and how much the federal government is spending on them. He told the Associated Press that he's been tracking ICE flights for five years and isn't aware of any other commercial airlines that have a contract with DHS.

Although occasionally ICE will deport migrants on commercial planes, large-scale operations are contracted through charter companies. Avelo's contract with DHS has caused an uproar among immigration activists, with a petition on Change.org already generating thousands of signatures agreeing to boycott the airline. The petition was posted by the New Haven Immigrants Coalition and states in the description, 'These flights are inhumane, dangerous, and, in some cases, illegal. They transport vulnerable people, including children and women, out of the country, at times without due process.'

Avelo's hub in New Haven, Connecticut is its largest base operation, and the mayor of the city has also slammed the contract. 'Avelo Airlines' decision to charter deportation flights from Mesa Gateway Airport in Arizona is deeply disappointing and disturbing,' Mayor Justin Elicker said in a statement. 'For a company that champions themselves as "New Haven's hometown airline," this business decision in antithetical to New Haven's values,' he added. 'Travel should be about bringing people together, not tearing families apart.' DailyMail.com reached out to ICE and DHS for more comment on the deportation flights but didn't immediately hear back.

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