Here’s Why Avelo Airlines Is Ending California and West Coast Flights Amid Controversy

A low-budget airline that made headlines earlier this year for conducting deportation flights in partnership with the Trump administration has announced it will end flights to and from California starting next month.

Avelo Airlines will begin reducing operations at its West Coast base at Hollywood Burbank Airport next month. The company previously shuttered its Bay Area hub at Sonoma County’s Charles M. Schulz Airport in May, citing issues with profitability.

“We believe the continuation service from [Hollywood Burbank Airport] in the current operating environment will not deliver adequate financial returns in a highly competitive backdrop,” said Courtney Goff, an Avelo Airlines spokesperson, in a statement. “Despite the investment of significant time, resources and efforts, our West Coast operations have not produced the results necessary to continue our presence there.”

Catch up fast: In April, Avelo Airlines announced that it had signed a long-term contract with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to conduct deportation flights nationwide. The first of those flights was carried out of Mesa Gateway Airport in Arizona, sparking mass protests and calls for a boycott.

Grassroots organizations such as the Coalition to Stop Avelo arranged demonstrations at airports across the United States. Avelo Airlines is one of several air travel companies selected by the Trump administration to carry out its deportation strategy. Others include CSI Aviation and Global Crossing Airlines.

By the numbers: The airline plans to reduce its Burbank operations to a single aircraft starting Aug. 1. The base will fully close Dec. 2, and all aircraft will be transferred to its East Coast locations. The closures will mark the end of Avelo Airlines’ West Coast operations, with the last of its Santa Rosa flights landing in Las Vegas and Burbank.

“The aircraft in BUR are expected to support growth in our East coast bases, where we have significantly more opportunity to continue our path to sustainable cash flow generation,” Goff said.

Avelo Airlines has previously denied that the decision to reduce operations is connected to its Department of Homeland Security contract.

The context: Since January, President Donald Trump has followed through on his campaign pledge to crack down on immigrant communities and expand immigration enforcement. ICE raids have been carried out across California, and immigration agents have been spotted detaining people at their immigration court hearings. Trump’s tax and spending package — the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” — allocates $170 billion for immigration detention and border security.

Immigrant advocacy groups, as well as California Attorney General Rob Bonta, have filed lawsuits against the Trump administration for its aggressive immigration raids and attempts to withhold federal dollars from states that refuse to cooperate with ICE.

The bottom line: Avelo Airlines is ending its operations in California and across the West Coast due to what it described as inadequate financial returns. Meanwhile, the airline continues to conduct domestic and international deportation flights as part of its contract with the Department of Homeland Security.