Avelo Airlines has announced a significant scaling back of its services at Concord-Padgett Regional Airport, ceasing operations on six flight routes just weeks after some were inaugurated. According to a statement given by Kiss951 to the Charlotte Observer by spokeswoman Courtney Goff, "poor performance indicators" were the reason behind the route cancellations, indicating that these flights "weren't booking in a normal pattern."
Despite the recent launch of these routes, the airline decided to discontinue flights including those to Daytona Beach and Nashville, which took to the skies on April 3, WBTV reports. The cut services are part of a broader move by Avelo to reposition its operational focus, a move which saw last flights scheduled before the end of April.
The city of Daytona Beach also felt the impact of these cuts with the loss of nonstop flights to Concord and Hartford, as The Daytona Beach News-Journal notes. Avelo's twice-weekly service to Concord, and its Friday and Monday service to Hartford, Connecticut, were slated to end after the final flights on Thursday and next Monday, respectively. Facing scrutiny over these cutbacks, Avelo's founder and CEO Andrew Levy defended the airline's decision citing the need for "stability," as per a statement published by the Delaware News Journal.
"We realize this is a sensitive and complicated topic," Levy stated. "After significant deliberations, we determined this charter flying will provide us with the stability to continue expanding our core scheduled passenger service and keep our more than 1,100 Crewmembers employed for years to come." Despite the disruptions posed to customers and the communities surrounding these airports, the airline expressed a priority on sustaining its broader workforce through what appears to be a strategic realignment of its operations, according to The Daytona Beach News-Journal.
