Houston's Avelo Airlines risks losing tax breaks over deportation flights

[littlemissmartypants]

Houston's Avelo Airlines risks losing tax breaks over deportation flights
Connecticut's Attorney General suggested Avelo is
taking state support to "make money off other people’s suffering."

By Andrea Guzmán,
Texas Brands Reporter

April 25, 2025

Houston-based Avelo Airlines is expected to operate deportation flights starting May 12, but the move came with backlash in the form of boycotts, rallies and now a threat to its tax breaks and subsidies.

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong sent Avelo questions earlier this month over its decision to sign an agreement to carry out deportation flights for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. New Haven, Connecticut, is the site of Avelo's largest base and where it's added routes in recent years, including the launch of a flight from William P. Hobby Airport to Tweed New Haven Regional Airport last summer.

Tong gave the airline a week to respond to a range of questions, including confirmation that the airline will never operate flights with shackled children or flights in which non-violent passengers are in shackles. Chaining passengers has been a major concern among activists and political leaders, as the restraints add complications in the event of an emergency.

But when the airline responded by saying some questions should go to the Department of Homeland Security or the Federal Aviation Administration. The airline also recommended Tong make a Freedom of Information Act request if he would like to view a copy of the airline's federal contract. Tong said the reply was "totally unacceptable."
Snip...
https://www.chron.com/culture/article/avelo-airlines-deportation-houston-20294746.php

[dem4decades]

1. Did Avelo's parent company run trains in Germany?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

2. Profiting off 'people's suffering': Airline set to operate ICE flights faces backlash

Protests are breaking out across the U.S. against Avelo Airlines after it agreed to help the administration carry out deportations.

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/avelo-airlines-protests-trump-deportation-flights-rcna203762

Earlier this month, dozens of people gathered at an airport in New Haven, Connecticut, to protest a small budget airline called Avelo. The company, which markets itself as a consumer airline for the general public, recently signed a contract with the Trump administration for the use of its planes, flight attendants and everything else for deportation flights......

When it comes to the principle of the matter here — when it comes to the Trump administration’s mass deportation program and locking people up indefinitely in a foreign prison without any opportunity to contest the allegations against them — it is one thing to engage with this as a member of the public. When it comes to the public, you can see from the polling, the protests and the signs people are holding on street corners, that they are repulsed by what Trump is doing and the way he is treating immigrants and the way he is handling deportations. Among the public, there is a big national backlash against that......

Avelo responded by not answering any of those questions. Instead, the airline told Connecticut’s attorney general that he has a “fundamental misunderstanding” of the situation and advised him that if he wants a copy of its contract with the Trump administration, he is welcome to file a Freedom of Information Act request with the government.

The airline did, however, add this: “Avelo remains committed to public safety and the rule of law, as evidenced by our public, continuous, and persistent compliance with all federal regulations governing commercial air travel in the United States.”

In a statement, Tong called Avelo’s letter “insulting and condescending to the people of Connecticut who have invested in and committed millions of dollars to Avelo’s success.”

“What’s more, telling the Office of the Attorney General to pound sand and to ask the Department of Homeland Security for a copy of their contract through FOIA is a callous back-of-the-hand that shows they really don’t care what we think,” Tong wrote. “It is clear all they intend to do is take state support and make money off other people’s suffering.”