The Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport will begin offering year-round, nonstop flights to Burbank/Los Angeles, Calif., and Orlando, Fla., beginning May 17.
The airport hosted a press conference Thursday to announce the pending arrival of discount carrier Avelo Airlines (aveloair.com), which flies new Boeing 737s exclusively.
Although the Houston-based startup is headquartered in Houston, Brownsville will be its first market in Texas. The company started in April 2021 operating out of Burbank, which Avelo marketing head Travis Christ described as “L.A.’s most convenient airport.”
“The airline was created with a mission to inspire travel, and we inspire travel by serving airports that are small and convenient with very low fares,” he said.
Brownsville’s Avelo service kicks off with introductory fares to Burbank and Orlando at $89 and $69 per ticket, plus baggage fees, though to take advantage flights must be booked by March 2 and travel completed by Sept. 6, according to Avelo, which plans to offer twice-weekly (Wednesday and Saturday) flights to and from the city.
Christ said Brownsville appears to be a good fit for the company’s business model.
“It’s a combination of a lot of things. … When we do our analysis of where to fly next it’s a combination of factors including population (and) potential economic growth,” he said. “There’s just a lot going on down here. It’s vibrant and we try to find these small airports that are well put together and well operated, like Brownsville.”
Airport Director Bryant Walker, speaking to the Brownsville Herald before the press conference, said the airport considered Avelo’s business model very attractive and that talks with the airline about coming to Brownsville had been underway since the company’s inception.
“They really want to serve underserved communities at a price point that a small community can afford, and so we really fit their ideal demographic,” he said. “We fit their airport size that they like to operate out of.”
Incentives are an inevitable part of any city’s effort to attract passenger air service.
Airports, for instance, are allowed by law to waive fuel flowage fees or landing fees for a maximum of two years — 100 percent the first year and 50 percent the second year.
Also, the city of Brownsville will offer a minimum revenue guarantee as an incentive, Walker said.
“If we don’t sell all the tickets we’re expecting to sell, the city would make up that difference,” he said.
Although some cities pay airlines a certain amount per seat whether the seat is full or not, the city of Brownsville is not offering that type of incentive, Walker said.
“We’re expecting to pay very little,” he said. “It’s really showing the commitment of the community and the city by allocating funds, saying we’re going to lower your risk to take on this route. That’s really what airlines need. They need to lower their risk for both their shareholders and for the success and long-term viability of a route. If they can get in and they can make it work, then they’re there for the long term.”
Walker said bringing in a carrier like Avelo would have been impossible without the new terminal building, now two years old.
For instance, the 737, which is the largest aircraft ever to serve Brownsville commercially, holds more passengers (185) than the old gate area could even accommodate, he said.
Before, the airport was limited to recruiting legacy-airline contract carriers operating smaller regional jets, Walker said. American Eagle and United Express, both of which currently serve Brownsville, are two such carriers.
Christ said Avelo’s currently consists of 14 “very modern, next-gen” 737-700s and 737-800s and that the company expects to have 20 737s by the end of this year and around 30 within two years.
If the Brownsville market does well, more destinations and/or flights more days of the week could be added, he said.
It’s too early to say which, if any, additional destinations could be added, Christ said.
“Network planning at an airline is not a slam dunk,” he said. “You don’t know for sure until you try it. But our tea leaves tell us that this market’s got great potential. …
“The good news for Brownsville and Avelo right now is that we have a lot of new airplanes coming. They’re not allocated. We will determine what the market conditions are when those planes arrive over the next 6, 12, 24 months. And so we’ll do an analysis on potential opportunities and where people from Brownsville want to go, and then that’s how we’ll decide where it could be.”
