Arizona Launches ICE Deportation Flights with Budget Airline

Conservative News DailyMay 13, 2025

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Avelo Airlines, a budget airline primarily serving small U.S. cities, has commenced federal deportation flights from Mesa Gateway Airport in Arizona. This initiative follows an agreement made in April with the Department of Homeland Security, allowing the airline to operate deportation flights using three Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Avelo aims to capitalize on the current governance’s push for increased deportations, as part of broader legislative discussions aimed at deporting 1 million undocumented immigrants annually and boosting the capacity of detention centers.

CEO Andrew Levy acknowledged the sensitivity of the subject but asserted that this contract would help the airline expand and protect jobs. However,details regarding financial matters and flight destinations remain undisclosed,as neither Avelo nor ICE has released the specifics of their contract. Initial reports indicated that Avelo would function as a sub-carrier under a broader contract involving an aviation broker.

The airline’s involvement in deportation flights has drawn criticism and protest. Historically, such flights have typically been handled by charter companies rather than commercial airlines, making Avelo’s participation unusual in the context of recent deportation efforts. the move is seen as a controversial step within the ongoing debate over immigration policy in the U.S.

A budget airline that serves mostly small U.S. cities began federal deportation flights Monday out of Arizona.

Avelo Airlines announced in April it had signed an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security to make charter deportation flights from Mesa Gateway Airport outside Phoenix. It said it will use three Boeing 737-800 planes for the flights.

The Houston-based airline is among a host of companies seeking to cash in on President Donald Trump’s campaign for mass deportations.

Congressional deliberations began last month on a tax bill with a goal of funding, in part, the removal of 1 million illegal aliens annually and housing 100,000 people in U.S. detention centers. The GOP plan calls for hiring 10,000 more U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and investigators.

Andrew Levy, Avelo’s founder and chief executive, said in announcing the agreement last month that the airline’s work for ICE would help the company expand and protect jobs.

“We realize this is a sensitive and complicated topic,” said Levy, an airline industry veteran with previous stints as a senior executive at United and Allegiant airlines.

Financial and other details of the Avelo agreement — including destinations of the deportation flights — haven’t publicly surfaced. The AP asked Avelo and ICE for a copy of the agreement, but neither provided the document. The airline said it wasn’t authorized to release the contract.

In Mesa, over 30 protesters gathered on a road leading up to the airport on Monday.

Mesa, a Phoenix suburb with about 500,000 people, is one of five hubs for ICE Air, the immigration agency’s air transport operation for deportations. ICE Air operated nearly 8,000 flights in a 12-month period through April, according to the advocacy group Witness at the Border.

ICE contracts with an air broker, CSI Aviation, that hires two charter carriers — GlobalX and Eastern Air Express — to do most of the flights, said Tom Cartwright, who tracks flight data for Witness at the Border.

Cartwright said it was unusual in recent years for commercial passenger carriers to carry out deportation flights.

“It’s always been with an air broker who then hires the carriers, and the carriers have not been regular commercial carriers, or what I call retail carriers, who are selling their own tickets,” Cartwright said. “At least since I have been involved (in tracking ICE flights), they’ve all been charter companies.”

Avelo will be a sub-carrier under a contract held by New Mexico-based CSI Aviation, which didn’t respond to questions about how much money Avelo would make under the agreement.

The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.