Expanding Western Colorado One Flight at a Time

MICHAEL RITTER – LOCAL GOVERNMENT EDITOR

The Grand Junction Regional Airport adds Avelo Airlines and Frontier Airlines as their newest flight service providers.

It has been a busy week for The Grand Junction Regional Airport as it expands its service providers from Five (American Airlines, Delta, United, Allegiant, and Denver Air Connection) to seven, adding Avelo and Frontier.

In a Tweet on April 13, the well-known Frontier Airlines announced it would once again serve the Grand Junction Regional Airport. Frontier will provide direct flights from GJT to Denver International Airport and back three days a week. Fights will be priced as low as $19 and begin June 8.

Avelo Airlines will connect western Colorado and eastern Utah through the Grand Junction Regional Airport to the Hollywood Burbank Airport in California. There will be flights four days a week from GJT to BUR and back. Tickets will be priced as low as $19. Flights from GJT to BUR will take roughly two hrs. and five min. The first flight from GJT to BUR will take off at 7:55 p.m. Sunday, May 9.

Avelo’s fleet is comprised of three Boeing 737-800’s with a capacity of 189 each. The airline will offer flights to 11 destinations connected through their base hub, Hollywood Burbank Airport. The 11 destinations were announced in a press release on April 8; the locations Avelo offers are;

• Arcata / Eureka, CA (ACV), Victorian charm in the heart of California’s Redwood Coast
• Bend / Redmond, OR (RDM), where the snow-capped Cascades surround the high desert
• Bozeman, MT (BZN), the onramp to Big Sky Country and Yellowstone National Park
• Eugene, OR (EUG), where the Willamette Valley begins
• Grand Junction, CO (GJT), where the Colorado River meets dramatic red rock landscapes
• Medford, OR (MFR), a launchpad to the Rogue Valley and Oregon’s wine country
• Pasco, WA (PSC), 300 days of sun in the heart of Washington’s wine country
• Phoenix / Mesa, AZ (AZA), a stress-free airport alternative to a year-round desert oasis
• Odgen, UT (OGD), a convenient Salt Lake City alternative to Utah’s famed mountains
• Redding, CA (RDD), 600 square miles of state and national parks beckon the adventure seeker
• Santa Rosa, CA (STS), the gateway to California’s wine country

Though Avelo Airlines is a new airline, it was formerly known as Xtra Airways and Casino Express Airlines before that. Andrew levy acquired the flopped Xtra Airways and is now backed by $125 million in private equity.

Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Avelo Airlines, Andrew Levy, was previously a co-founder and Allegiant Air president. He was also the chief financial officer at United Airlines. In a pair of press releases, announcing the new airline and presenting its destinations, released April 8, Levy expressed his motivations and goals for the new Airline;

 “Avelo has a simple purpose — to Inspire Travel,”

 “People are ready to reconnect with family and friends and explore new places. Avelo is a different and better kind of airline, built from scratch to offer an affordable, convenient and caring travel experience.”

“We are making flying more affordable and convenient by taking the greatest efficiencies we can find in the industry and sharing the savings with our Customers in the form of surprisingly low fares,”

“Combine that with operating bases at many of the nation’s most convenient airports, infused with a culture of caring, and you have a different and better kind of airline that our Customers will love to fly, our Crewmembers are proud to work for and our shareholders are grateful they invested in.”

The New Avelo Airline will have its inaugural flight on April 28, and it will be from BUR to STS.

For More information on Avelo Airlines, Click Here

For an Avelo Airlines Fact Sheet, Click Here

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