Established on July 20, 1987, as Casino Express Airlines, the air carrier began operations in 1989 using Boeing 737-200 jetliners flying exclusively for the Red Lion Hotel and Casino in Elko, Nevada. Casino Express operated 737 jet service from Elko Regional Airport nonstop to many cities in the US. In 1994, Casino Express was operating scheduled weekend only flights nonstop between Elko (EKO) and Portland, Oregon, (PDX) and Seattle (SEA) with McDonnell Douglas MD-80 jetliners.[8] For a short time in 1999 Casino Express Airlines operated one Boeing 737-200 jetliner for the start-up airline Tahoe Air, which provided scheduled passenger air service with nonstop flights from the South Lake Tahoe Airport to Los Angeles International Airport in southern California and also nonstop service to San Jose International Airport in northern California.
Casino Express quickly expanded its customer base to include sports teams, government agencies, foreign dignitaries, press corps, other gaming properties, and other types of public and private charters. It changed its name to Xtra Airways on December 8, 2005, to reflect its broader focus.[9]
From 2007 through 2012 Xtra Airways dedicated two Boeing 737-400 aircraft to fly for Direct Air, an airline business based in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
In September 2016,[11] it began operating a Boeing 737-800 (registration: N881XA), repainted in a sky-blue and white livery with "Stronger Together" titles, for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.[12] Soon afterward a second aircraft, Boeing 737-400 (N314XA), was also chartered by the campaign, painted with a sky-blue stripe and "Clinton/Kaine" titles.[13]
Avelo Airlines
An Avelo Airlines Boeing 737-800 at Sonoma County Airport after its inaugural flight from Burbank on April 28, 2021
Andrew Levy, a former chief financial officer for United Continental Holdings and later chief operations officer of Allegiant Air, acquired Xtra in August 2018, with the intent of transforming the charter airline into an ultra-low cost carrier.[14] By that time, Xtra had sold most of its fleet to Swift Air, but kept one Boeing 737-400 to retain its FAA Part 121 Regularly Scheduled Air Carrier certification.[15] By April 2019, the airline was considering operating Boeing 737-800s.[16]
In February 2020, Levy announced the new holding company for Xtra, named Houston Air Holdings, Inc., reflecting the company's Houston headquarters. The same month, the company raised US$125 million in funding and received its first airplane from GE Capital Aviation Services ahead of its original plans to launch scheduled operations later in 2020.[5]
On April 8, 2021, the new airline was announced under the name Avelo Airlines, and began selling tickets for flights based at Hollywood Burbank Airport in California.[17][18] Its initial route network consisted of eleven unserved destinations from Burbank, launching between April 28 and May 20, 2021,[19] with an initial fleet of three Boeing 737-800s, expanding to six by the end of 2021.[20][21] Avelo's announcement of its entry into scheduled flight operations was met with competitive response initially from American and Alaska Airlines, with American upgauging the aircraft on its existing route between Phoenix Sky Harbor and Burbank, while Alaska announced a new service between Burbank and Santa Rosa to start on June 1, 2021.[22] Avelo's inaugural flight occurred on April 28, 2021, which traveled from its Burbank base to Santa Rosa's Sonoma County Airport.[7] The airline on July 7, 2021, announced that it would terminate its flights to Bozeman and Grand Junction by the end of September,[23] while by July 29, 2021, the airline announced an additional five destinations including Fort Collins, Las Vegas, Monterey, Provo, and St. George,[24][25] although the planned flights to Monterey, Provo, and St. George were later cancelled.
Following the airline's California launch in late April, Avelo announced on May 6, 2021, that it would open a new base at Tweed New Haven Airport in Connecticut during the third quarter of 2021. The airline additionally announced that it planned to invest US$1.2 million toward the New Haven airport's facilities, and that it would use Boeing 737-700 aircraft for its operations at the new base.[26] On August 19, 2021, details of the airline's operations at its New Haven base were revealed, initially with four routes between New Haven and destinations in Florida announced to launch during November 2021.[27] By the end of 2024, Avelo had expanded its service from New Haven to 26 destinations, making the airport its largest base.[28]
In February 2024, Avelo announced plans to add five additional aircraft to its fleet, all sourced from bankrupt Brazilian airline GOL.[38] Additional aircraft were sourced from Aerolineas Argentinas and Southwest Airlines in the same year. In July, the airline unveiled its biggest network expansion to date, with 18 new routes, new bases at Hartford's Bradley International Airport and Lakeland Linder Airport, as well as the launch of international service to the Dominican Republic and Mexico for the first time.[39] Levy stated the airline had found a niche primarily serving passengers travelling to visit friends and relatives seeking nonstop flights.[40] Further routes from Santa Rosa to Ontario and Salt Lake City were announced in August.[41]
Avelo operates domestic routes on the east and west coasts of the United States. Prior to rebranding as Avelo, the airline operated ad-hoc and on-demand charter services as both Casino Express Airlines and Xtra Airways within the Americas.
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