Avelo Airlines to add Oregon flights to its service at Sonoma County airport
Charles M. Schulz‒Sonoma County Airport is about to add a new market to its service when Avelo Airlines launches nonstop flights to central Oregon this summer.
Avelo will begin service between Sonoma County and Redmond Municipal Airport starting June 23, the Burbank-based air carrier said in a Wednesday press release.
The central Oregon airport serves the Bend/Redmond market and will become the fourth destination for Avelo at the Sonoma County airport.
The budget carrier made its debut at the facility in April 2021 with its inaugural route to its Burbank hub, then five months later added a Las Vegas route. Avelo added service to Palm Springs in November, but the flight is seasonal and is scheduled to pause on June 19 before picking up again in the fall, according to Airport Manager Jon Stout. He said visitor demand for the desert region drops in the summer months.
“Avelo was looking at ways to keep the aircraft occupied,” Stout said. “My understanding is that Redmond and the Bend community did some of their own research and were pushing for our connectivity.”
Avelo is also looking at the Oregon flight as seasonal, at least to begin with, he said.
“It’s an opportunity to try it, and do it during the peak season because we both have very strong outdoor opportunities connecting wine and beer countries,” Stout said. “So if it does well, they could keep it longer. It just depends on how the markets respond.”
Avelo will fly to Bend/Redmond on Mondays and Fridays on a Boeing Next-Generation 737 aircraft. Introductory one-way fares will start at $34, and customers can make reservations at AveloAir.com.
Avelo is focused on the leisure market and what’s known as the secondary market — regions that are in proximity to big airports. Sonoma County fits the bill on both fronts, as a popular Wine Country destination and near San Francisco International Airport.
When Avelo first arrived at the Sonoma County two years ago, Stout told the Business Journal that it had been almost 15 years since a new carrier entered the market “so it’s not something that happens often.”
Avelo Airlines’ most recent passenger figures, from March 2023, show the carrier flew 11,421 passengers through the Santa Rosa airport. The airline’s load factor — the measure of how full airplanes are on average — was 79%.
This story has been updated with additional content and comments from Airport Manager Jon Stout.
