Avelo Operates Deportation Flights In Shame, With All-White 737s

Several weeks ago, we learned how Houston-based ultra low cost carrier Avelo Airlines would get into the deportation flight business. With this project, we’re seeing the airline base three Boeing 737s at Arizona’s Mesa Gateway Airport (AZA), with flights having started as of the middle of May. Anyway, here’s an interesting update regarding this.

Avelo repainted 737s used for deportation flights

Bluesky user jjindc flags something interesting, that I hadn’t noticed before. It would appear that Avelo has repainted the Boeing 737s that it’s using for its deportation flights. Specifically, the planes have been repainted in an all-white livery, so that you wouldn’t even know that they’re in any way associated with the airline.

For example, below is the plane with the registration code N804VL. Aside from the registration code, you’d have absolutely no clue which airline this plane is associated with. It would appear that this work happened in Dothan, Alabama (DHN), as the plane spent around a week there prior to positioning to Mesa.

For those curious, the other planes that are part of this project have the registration codes N801XT and N805VL.

What can we make of these planes being repainted?

One might assume this repainting aircraft is just standard procedure for these kinds of projects, but it’s really not. The government certainly doesn’t care one way or another, so it’s up to the airline how it wants to handle that.

For example, GlobalX is the largest operator of deportation flights, and the airline gladly uses its standard livery for these flights. Admittedly GlobalX doesn’t have much of a reputation, as it doesn’t operate scheduled flights. Perhaps the company even views it as good publicity, with videos like the below…

Ordinarily if you just do some sort of a wet lease operation, you don’t actually repaint the plane. But obviously Avelo decided to spend its own money to repaint its planes, since it doesn’t actually want to be associated with the work it’s doing. We’ve seen the company try to sue for basic free speech when calling out the airline for this side business, so I guess this all isn’t too surprising.

Avelo’s CEO has emphasized that this deportation flying is a needed revenue stream, since it doesn’t expose the company to fluctuation in fuel prices or risks of macroeconomic factors.

Bottom line

Avelo Airlines has repainted the Boeing 737s that it’s using for deportation flights in an all-white livery. While that’s not shocking, it’s not the norm up until now, and it clearly reflects the extent to which the company doesn’t want to be associated with the work that it’s doing.