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Just five weeks after inaugurating direct, non-stop service between Brownsville and Orlando, Florida, and Burbank, California, discount air carrier Avelo Airlines has announced direct, nonstop service between Brownsville and Las Vegas.
The news was announced at a news conference at Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport on Thursday.
The Monday and Friday flights to and from Las Vegas will begin Sept. 8. Flights will arrive in Brownsville from Las Vegas at approximately 9:50 a.m. and depart at around 11 a.m. for the return trip, according to Airport Director Bryant Walker.
Avelo is the first airline to serve Brownsville with 737s — 737-700 and 800 series aircraft in this case, he said. With the addition of Las Vegas, Avelo flights will be in Brownsville four days of the week, with service to Orlando and Burbank on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
“We can’t complain about that,” Walker said.
Avelo commenced service to Brownsville — the Houston-based airline’s first Texas destination — on May 17 after announcing Feb. 23 that the service was coming. During the May 17 news conference at the airport, Avelo head of marketing Travis Christ said additional routes or days might be added at some point, though he gave no indication it might happen so soon.
“It’s pretty straightforward for airlines: The routes that do well get more flying,” he said at the news conference.
Walker said the company’s decision to launch service to Brownsville with flights to both coasts “sort of flew in the face in the data” in terms of passenger demand.
“The data actually supports a Vegas route more than it supports Orlando and Burbank,” he said. “Having said that, the actual performance of the Burbank and Orlando routes is proving to exceed the expectations by far. So if those routes are exceeding expectations, the idea is that the higher demand route of Vegas would greatly exceed our expectations. That’s why it should be wildly successfully, so why wait was the logic on that.”
Las Vegas is a hot destination among Rio Grande Valley residents and being able to fly there from Brownsville is about making things easier for Vegas-bound travelers from this end of the Valley, Walker said.
“McAllen has a flight that goes there direct, and we feel that a lot of their passengers are coming from closer to the coast here, coming from Brownsville, so it may impact the traffic going to McAllen a little bit. But it’s really the job of the airport to provide the connectivity to the local community. That’s all we’re doing.”
