Avelo is the ultra-low cost carrier that launched in April 2021, flying non-stop routes from smaller airports. They began on the West Coast, but they’ve exited that half of the country and are now focused on the East Coast and Southeast.
They’ve garnered a lot of attention over the past year. Struggling financially, they pulled several planes out of commercial service and ran ICE deportation flights instead on contract with the federal government. Between May and December, 2025 appear to have run 1,945 ICE flights which is nearly 20% of the total deportation flights during that period of time.
Credit: Colin Cooke Photo via Wikimedia Commons
Avelo is now out of the ICE charter business – with the Boeing 737-700s having gone to the Department of Homeland Security to be operated directly.
No longer based out of Burbank, Avelo operations focus on:
- New Haven, Connecticut
- Wilmington, Delaware
- Concord (near-ish Charlotte)
- Lakeland, Florida
They also plan to operate a base at Dallas – McKinney starting in late 2026. They’ve closed bases at Mesa (ICE charter base), Raleigh-Durham, and Wilmington, North Carolina. So they’re focused on New Haven, Connecticut, the broader Charlotte area, and Southeast leisure.
In 2022, Avelo did a non–co-brand partnership with Capital One where Avelo customers applying for Venture and VentureOne via the airline got statement credits with the carrier and a year of priority boarding (while Avelo earned commissions). Now, they have their own co-brand card issued by First Electronic Bank and managed by Cardless.
Avelo carried 2.4 million passengers in 2024 on 19,000 scheduled flights, about 52 scheduled flights per day. That’s small for a carrier with its own co-brand, but the Cardless business model was a lean, ground-up build that let them go after smaller partners who didn’t have the scale to interest traditional issuer banks.
The Avelo Airlines World Elite Mastercard has a $99 annual fee – honestly, I would have expected something at no fee, but it has perks and non-terrible earning.
- Initial bonus: $250 in Avelo Cash after $1,000 spend in 90 days
- Earning: 5% back in Avelo Cash on Avelo purchases and 2% back in Avelo Cash on everything else
- Key benefits: free carry-on, standard seat assignment, priority boarding
Credit: Avelo Airlines
If you’re going to fly Avelo a couple of times, the card’s annual fee pays for itself. It’s not a great card for ongoing spend, however. You’re better off with a no annual fee 2% cash back card like Citi Double Cash. Then you get 2% cash, not 2% to spend on Avelo. Even though the certainty in the U.S. dollar has degraded somewhat over the past few years its future remains far more certain than Avelo’s.
Priority boarding is $15. Carry-ons run ~ $40 – $65. A single roundtrip is about break-even. If you live where Avelo makes sense to fly and you’re a traveler then getting this card (and sock drawering it) makes sense.
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