Avelo Airlines is set to commence commercial service today with a round-trip flight from Burbank (BUR) to Santa Rosa (STS), California. Fares started at $19 for the flights and both the outbound and return flights sold out within minutes of tickets going on sale roughly three weeks ago.
The inaugural flight will be operated by one of the carrier’s three Boeing 737-800s, laid out in a 189-seat configuration with 129 standard 29-inch-pitch seats and an extra-legroom section with 60 seats.
If Avelo is able to fill these aircraft and keep filling them with this dense seating layout then their stats are going to be very impressive indeed with the addition 20 odd seats over a Southwest layout for example. The carrier plans to launch services in the coming weeks from Burbank to 11 cities, taking advantage of the JetBlue and Delta cutbacks from Burbank. All this and the airline was not even supposed to launch from Burbank, the original launch airport was across the other side of the USA at Wilmington Delaware, COVID put a stop to those plans, but it is clear that the business plan is ready to go at short notice should the airline wish to launch there once traffic returns to normal. This is a ULCC to watch. Avelo must overcome serious competition to carve-out a market share and with Alaska Airlines launching a new Burbank to Santa Rosa daily nonstop service we have a direct battle already live. American is also worried it seems, they have added flights between Burbank and Phoenix (PHX) at a rate of four flights per day, this is one of Avelo’s core new routes. With Breeze launching soon there is, for the first time in over 15 years, instability in the US airline sector and prices will be under pressure as these new ULCCs carve out market share.