Avelo Airlines, a Texas-based budget career, is facing backlash from both clients and employees over its decision to operate deportation flights under a new contract with the Trump administration.
A memo from an internal company reviewed by Reuters, who has struggled financially, Abelo signed a contract with the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) last month to transport immigrants to detention centers both inside and outside the US.
On Monday, the airline flew its first flight from Arizona under a contract with Louisiana, data from flight tracking services Flightaware and Flightradar24 showed.
Avelo plans to devote three aircraft to deportation operations, and, according to the company’s memo, it has set up a charter-only base in Mesa, Arizona, specifically dedicated to these flights.
The union representing Abelo flight attendants called the contract “bad for the airline” and helped one customer organize a petition urging travelers to boycott the airline.
US President Donald Trump has launched a hardline crackdown on undocumented immigrants, including the deportation of Venezuelan immigrants who accused them of being gang members at El Salvador’s largest security prison. Immigration authorities were also detained and moved to deport permanent legal US residents. Trump’s policies have caused rashes of lawsuits and protests.
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for DHS’s spokesperson, said the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) is deporting illegal foreigners who have broken the laws of the country. She called the protest “a tired tactic of abolishing ice by proxy.”
“Avelo Airlines is a subcarrier of a government contract to support deportation flights,” McLaughlin said in a statement. “The ice and our partner’s attacks and demons are wrong.”
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On Wednesday, the airline confirmed a long-term agreement with ICE and said it was essential for Avelo’s financial stability. He also shared a statement from CEO Andrew Levy, recognizing it was a “sensitivity and complex topic,” but said the decision on the contract was “after important deliberations.”
The statement added that the deal will preserve the airline’s “more than 1,100 crew members employed for the next few years.”
Abelo said it will use the Boeing 737-800 aircraft in Mesa, Arizona.
“The flights will be domestic and international,” the company said, denying to share details of the contract.
Starting in 2021, Avelo was forced to suspend its recent funding round after reporting its worst quarterly performance in two years.
In a message to employees last month, Levy said airlines are spending more than they’ve acquired from customers and are forcing investors to repeatedly inject capital.
“We might consider the decision to fly for the DHS to be debatable,” Levi wrote in a staff memo. This was reviewed by Reuters, but said the opportunity was “great enough to be pursued.”
Wide range of repulsion
The flight attendants and the CWA association representing the Avelo crew have urged the company to reconsider the decision they described as “bad for the airline.”
“Every flight of people who are handcuffed and bound would prevent the risk of evacuation, injuries and death,” the union said. “You can’t work under these conditions.”
The Trump administration deported hundreds of migrants labelled in El Salvador as Venezuelan gang members. Photos and videos show the exiles in handcuffs and shackles.
Customers are also expressing their anger. Anne Watkins of New Haven, Connecticut, is a resident and said he has stopped flying with Abelo. She and a co-member of the New Haven Immigration Union have launched an online petition urging travelers to boycott the airline until they finish ice flight work. The petition has collected over 38,000 signatures.
Watkins, 55, said the coalition organized a vigil on Monday to commemorate Abelo’s deportation flight launch.
“Companies can decide to operate in a completely ethical and transparent way,” she said. “Abello hasn’t chosen to do that now.”
Democrat Connecticut Attorney General William Tonn threatened to consider the state’s incentives for Abelo, who has received more than $2 million in grants and tax cuts.
In California, Los Angeles resident Nancy K co-founded a campaign called “Mother Abu Abero.” She is scheduled to lead weekly protests at Hollywood Burbank Airport, one of Abelo’s six operating bases every Sunday in May.