“I think the Dayton community did everything we possibly could do, because the load factors were really great with that flight,” said Linda Hughes, Dayton’s air service manager. “I can’t speculate as to why we didn’t get to mature a little longer.”
Avelo spokesperson Courtney Goff told the Dayton Daily News on Friday that the company has “made the difficult decision to leave the Dayton market.”
“We are still working on the details with Dayton International Airport for the exact date the service will end,” Goff said. “Our priority is taking care of our customers and we will notify those affected with their options.”
On Thursday night, Goff had been less clear, saying only that Avelo “continuously evaluates every destination and route” that it serves.
In June, about 91% of Avelo’s seats on planes flying out of Dayton were full, Hughes said.
But a few weeks ago, while announcing that Avelo would extend bookings into 2024, Goff said that while bookings had been steady, higher sales levels would be welcome and needed.
Hughes said it’s disappointing that Dayton is losing Avelo, but the airport still has service to the Orlando Sanford International Airport through Allegiant. Like Avelo’s service, Allegiant’s flight also operates twice a week.
Airport and Avelo officials said it’s not yet clear when Avelo’s last Dayton-Orlando flight will occur.
Avelo made a splash last fall when it announced it was starting service from Dayton to the Orlando International Airport twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays.
Avelo was the first new airline the Dayton International Airport added since 2016, when Allegiant launched service to two Florida markets.
The low-cost airline has offered fares out of Dayton for as low as $34, though fees are added for bags and other services.
Avelo’s flight to Orlando began on Jan. 13, and about 6,750 passengers flew on Avelo’s Boeing Next-Generation 737 aircraft from Dayton to Florida this year, through the end of June.
Some local travelers recently started questioning whether Avelo was preparing to pull out of the Dayton market when they noticed that one-way fares shot up in price in late September.
On its website, Avelo advertises one-way fares as low as $34 in late August and early September. But earlier this week, the company’s listed fares for Sept. 8 and beyond were $499.
On Friday, all of its future tickets were advertised for $29 through February. But it’s unclear when Avelo plans to pull out of the local market.
Avelo recently told this newspaper that it was extending bookings from Dayton to the theme park capital of the world out through mid-February.
The Dayton International Airport saw its passenger traffic decline year-over-year for four consecutive months between March and June.
But Hughes said passenger traffic grew 10.5% in July, compared to July 2022, and passenger traffic for the year is up about 1.2%.
Hughes said she believes if Avelo gave its Dayton flight more time to “mature,” the company eventually could have received the kind of pricing it wanted.
“Hopefully they’ll come back one day,” she said.
The Dayton airport will see its service to Denver restored next month, after losing that flight several years ago during the pandemic.
The Denver flight will be offered daily. The Dayton airport has service to 13 nonstop destinations.
“There are good things on the horizon,” Hughes said.
Avelo this year announced that it was ending service in other markets that it said underperformed expectations, including the Charlottesville Albemarle Airport and the Newport News-Williamsburg Airport, both in Virginia.
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