Sitting Comfortably? Avelo Airlines Begins 1st Red-Eye Flight Today

Avelo's first revenue-generating flight was more than four years ago, in April 2021. Since then, the ultra-low-cost carrier has not had red eyes, partly because it adds more crew and operational complexity than daytime services. However, that changes on June 12, the day of writing, when its first overnight flight takes off.

Avelo Airlines

IATA/ICAO Code

XP/VXP

Airline Type

Ultra-Low-Cost Carrier

Hub(s)

Hollywood Burbank Airport, Tweed New Haven Airport, Harry Reid International Airport, Orlando International Airport, Raleigh–Durham International Airport, Wilmington Airport

Year Founded

2018

On June 12, Tweed New Haven and San Juan will have Avelo's first red-eye service. The carrier will leave for Puerto Rico at 20:59 and return at 06:45 the next day. Cirium Diio indicates that this is its fourth-longest route across its whole network, and—when other carriers are considered—overnight flights from San Juan to the US mainland are commonplace. It comes soon after Southwest began more red-eye services to the East Coast.

Takeoff: Avelo's 1st Overnight Flight

Image: GCMap

The Boeing 737-operating airline has served Tweed New Haven-San Juan since November 2023, and flights have always been during the day. However, some of the schedule will be very different from now on.

On Thursdays and Sundays, a 189-seat 737-800 will operate XP327, departing Connecticut at 20:59 and arriving in Puerto Rico at 00:45+1. On Fridays and Mondays, XP328 will leave San Juan at 02:42 and get back to Tweed New Haven at 06:45. The remaining services (on Wednesdays and Saturdays) will continue to operate during the day.

It is unclear if this change is driven by Avelo's desire to increase aircraft productivity, Tweed New Haven's lack of aircraft stands for overnight parking, or otherwise. Speaking to Air Service One, Avelo's director of network planning, Mike Corcoran, said,

The 06:45 Arrival Is Tweed New Haven's Earliest Yet

Photo: Volare Overseas | Flickr

Using Cirium Diio to explore Tweed New Haven's schedules in the past 20 years shows that no other scheduled flight has arrived at or before 06:45. Until now, the earliest arrival time was at 07:00. The airline and routes were very different, and the services did not exist for long.

In 2007, Pan Am Clipper Connection, owned and operated by Boston-Maine Airways, deployed 19-seat Jetstream 31s from Elmira and Portsmouth to Tweed New Haven. In both cases, a thrice-daily service operated during the week for business travel. The first flight of the day left at 06:00 and arrived in Connecticut at 07:00.

Needless to say, most of these routes have been cut.

20

6% Of San Juan-US Mainland Flights Leave Between 00:00 & 04:59

Photo: Benjamin Schudel | Flickr

American, Avelo, Delta, Frontier, JetBlue, Southwest, Spirit, Sun Country, and United all operate from Puerto Rico back to the US mainland. They'll fly to 34 airports in June, with an average of 105 daily departures.

Analyzing every service shows that 6% of flights—including Avelo's—will leave San Juan between 00:00 and 04:59. You'll notice from the following table that some routes have different departure times, with only the most common schedule stated. Four departures go to the Northeast, with more leaving from 05:00 onwards.