Ouch: Avelo Cuts 66% Of Its International Routes

All airlines cut routes, and Avelo is no exception. You may know by now that the carrier will pull out of Hartford in January. In that month, it will also cease one international service from Raleigh/Durham. Consequently, it will end four of its six international routes across its whole network. And it will entirely stop flying to Cancun and Montego Bay. The latter’s exit was revealed before Jamaica’s devastating Hurricane Melissa.

Breeze may replace Avelo on some of those links. Many examples exist of where it has done so. They include flights on various domestic routes from Burbank. However, Breeze has just cut three of them before their first flight.

Gone: These 3 International Routes From Hartford

Avelo is the only airline in all three markets. However, US Department of Transportation data since 1990 indicates that Hartford to Cancun previously had nonstop flights between 2005 and 2023. Delta, Frontier, JetBlue, and USA 3000 operated at times during this period. USA 3000 served Punta Cana between 2004 and 2007, while Montego Bay was in the hands of Spirit in 2022 and 2023.

Seat load factors are only one measure of performance. They should not be considered in isolation from other factors. All three of Avelo’s routes from Hartford had loads between 59% and 79%. With only 59% of seats filled, Cancun sticks out like a sore thumb. The US DOT shows that no month since the route’s launch last November 2024 has surpassed 66%. Ouch.

It is always worth comparing results. When all of Avelo’s routes, domestic and international, across its full network are considered, its average load in the 12 months to July 2025 was 75%. That’s relatively low in itself, which is perhaps partly why it has ordered Embraer E195-E2s. Of its three Hartford routes, only Montego Bay surpassed that average.

This International Route From Raleigh/Durham Is Also Ending

On January 3, Avelo will cease flying from the North Carolina airport to Montego Bay. It has served that route, which covers 1,040 nautical miles (1,926 km) each way, since February 12, 2025. In November, it’ll operate twice-weekly on the 149-seat 737-700.

Avelo was the third airline on that city pair since 2018. Frontier briefly operated in 2018 and 2019 (the US DOT shows it filled a pathetically low 43% of seats!), followed by JetBlue during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 (it achieved an also-low 59% load). Between February and July 2025, Avelo only filled 53% of seats. Given these continually poor results, another airline would probably be foolish to enter the market.

So, What International Services Remain?

When writing on November 6, Avelo’s two remaining international routes are Raleigh/Durham to Punta Cana and Wilmington (North Carolina) to Punta Cana. While the former link started on February 22, 2025, the latter will take off in time for Christmas on December 24. When it does, it will be the first time the North Carolina airport has ever had scheduled international service.

Avelo will be the second carrier to have attempted Raleigh/Durham-Punta Cana. Frontier did so in 2018 and 2019, and—you can predict this by now—it performed poorly. Just 65% of seats were filled. Results for Avelo until July 2025 show an average 76% seat factor. It filled up to 84% of seats in July, but at what fares and yields? It’ll be good to see whether the two North Carolina routes remain in the future.