Startup airline Avelo have announced that they will be ferrying migrants to detention centers within the US and overseas, to help combat their own economic problems. Starting next month the low-fare service will start using their planes , which will be stripped of all livery, for deportation flights.

The operations will be based out of Mesa Gateway Airport in Arizona and routes will be domestic and international to ‘support the Department’s deportation efforts.’ ICE Air, the air-transport wing of Homeland Security’s ICE division, has typically relied on a network of charter flights rather than commercial airlines. They have been looking to diversify as the Trump administration’s crackdown on migration continues, according to officials who spoke with the Wall Street Journal.

Chief Executive Andrew Levy told employees in a message the day after striking the deal that it all come down to the company needing more money. He said: ‘I realize some may view the decision to fly for [Homeland Security] as controversial. ‘We concluded this new opportunity was too valuable not to pursue, as it will help us stabilize our finances and allow us to continue our journey.’ The outlet reported that the company has had to repeatedly raise money from investors, since it spends more than it brings in from tickets.

They managed to narrow their losses to nearly breaking-even last year, but the first quarter has been a setback, Levy also said to employees. As a result of the new business venture, the airline shuttered their operations at the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa, California . Avelo customers could previously fly out of the Santa Rosa airport to locations across the country and even Ontario, Canada . Flights to airports including Los Angeles , Redmond, Las Vegas , and seasonally to Palm Springs will still run, but all other flights and the base program are set to close.

The move for Avelo to handle the flight has sparked outraged from lawmakers in Connecticut. Officials in the state are threatening to extend a suspension of aviation fuel taxes which allowed the company to expand in the state, when it expires in June. The union that represents workers at Avelo have also raised concerns over the transporting of passenger who are handcuffed. They have argued that this would hinder their workers’ responsibility to respond to in-flight emergencies. New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker, where Avelo flies out of, said he had called the company to express his opposition to the arrangement.

He said: ‘Avelo Airlines’ decision to charter deportation flights from Mesa Gateway Airport in Arizona is deeply disappointing and disturbing. ‘For a company that champions themselves as ‘New Haven’s hometown airline,’ this business decision in antithetical to New Haven’s values.’ Protests have also formed outside of Tweed New Haven Airport due to the move, with locals also starting petitions pledging to boycott the firm. In a letter to Levy, state Attorney General William Tong said: ‘These flights are cruel by design and enormously wasteful of taxpayer resources, and no business should be complicit.’

The Trump administration has used GlobalX to deport hundreds of Venezuelans to El Salvado r in March, despite a federal court order blocking the move . ICE uses broker CSI Aviation to deal with the flights, with the WSJ reporting that a dozen planes are at their disposal for ICE to use daily. Government records indicate that CSI has signed contracts worth in excess of $650 million with ICE in the last three years.

iAero Airways and its predecessor Swift Air had also previously handled the majority of ICE flights. The company had to file for bankruptcy in 2023 and liquidated. Avelo have also said that they had flown charters during the Biden administration, adding: ‘When our country calls and requests assistance our practice is to say yes.’

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