Avelo Airlines to halt deportation flights for ICE

Avelo Airlines said that it will no longer carry out migrant deportation flights for the Department of Homeland Security, ending a contract that supported the U.S. government’s immigration enforcement efforts. 

The Houston-based carrier, founded in 2021, said its deal to handle Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation flights did not sufficiently boost the airline’s financial position. As a result, the low-cost carrier is shutting down its hub at Mesa Gateway Airport in Phoenix, where its migrant flight operation was based, the company said in a statement to CBS News.

“Avelo will close the base at [Mesa Gateway Airport] on January 27 and will conclude participation in the DHS charter program,” an Avelo spokesperson said. “The program provided short-term benefits but ultimately did not deliver enough consistent and predictable revenue to overcome its operational complexity and costs.”

Avelo operates low-cost flights to dozens of destinations, including the Caribbean, from four U.S. hubs. It is planning to open a fifth base in Dallas in late 2026. 

DHS has long partnered with CSI Aviation, which subcontracted with Avelo to provide ICE with air charter services. The federal agency also subcontracts with other charter companies, including GlobalX, which handles roughly 70% of DHS’ flights, according to Tom Cartwright of Witness at the Border, an activist group monitoring ICE operations.

“ICE never contracted directly with Avelo Airlines,” DHS said in a statement to CBS News. “ICE will continue to utilize its contracted service provider, which works with multiple airlines to support the American people’s mandate for mass deportations of criminal illegal aliens.”

In April, Avelo founder and CEO Andrew Levy expressed confidence that the airline’s deportation business would help drive the carrier’s growth, while conceding that handling deportation flights was a “sensitive and complicated topic.”

Mesa’s charter program has sparked public backlash and protests against its decision to work with ICE. 

The Indivisible Project, a nonprofit group that led protests against Avelo Airlines, on Thursday applauded the carrier’s move to end its contract with DHS.

“For months, communities across the country spoke out, organized, protested and demanded that Avelo Airlines end its deportation flights. After months of plummeting sales and canceled commercial flights, Avelo was forced to walk away from contracts that harmed immigrant families and destabilized workers — and it’s sales,” Indivisible co-executive director Ezra Levin, said in a statement.