Triangle travelers have a new airline to choose from at Raleigh-Durham airport
Avelo Airlines will begin flying from Raleigh-Durham International Airport to New Haven, Connecticut, starting in May.
The low-cost carrier, which is less than a year old, will offer Triangle travelers another option to the New York metropolitan area, the most popular destination from RDU.
Flights begin May 26 with one round trip a day five days a week. A sixth flight will be added in mid-June. The service will be year-round, though the number of days may fluctuate by season, said Bud Hafer, the airline’s manager of airport relations.
“These new flights are going to offer the Triangle region a gateway to the New England and New York areas,” Hafer said Tuesday at a press conference at RDU. “With these flights they can avoid the large airports and layovers.”
Avelo becomes the 13th air carrier doing business at RDU. In December, Icelandair announced that it would begin flying four times a week between the Triangle and Reykjavik on May 12.
Four airlines — Delta, American, Southwest and United — carried 83% of passengers in and out of RDU last year. Seven other carriers accounted for the rest. Some of those airlines, including Alaska, Air Canada, Sun Country and now Avelo, fly to only one or two destinations.
Still, more competition is good for customers, said RDU spokeswoman Stepanie Hawco, giving them more choice and helping to hold down fares.
“It’s all about offering choices to our travelers,” Hawco said.
Avelo made its inaugural flights in April 2021, while the air travel business was still depressed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The timing was actually good, because other airlines had cut back service, Hafer said.
“There were a lot of opportunities then, because everyone had pulled down their flights,” he said. “We were able to get into places we couldn’t have gotten into before.”
With three new flights announced Tuesday, Avelo now serves 21 destinations, mostly out of New Haven or Burbank, California. From RDU, the airline will use 147-seat Boeing 737-700 aircraft.
Tuesday’s announcement is another signal that the air travel business is regaining strength, Hawco said. RDU served nearly 8.8 million passengers last year, up 80% from 2020 but still 5.4 million fewer than in 2019.
“We haven’t fully recovered from the pandemic, but we’re on our way,” Hawco said. “The recovery’s happening even faster than we expected, and we’re confident that we will continue grow.”
This story was originally published March 8, 2022 at 10:20 AM.
