The American airline Avelo is reversing course and will cease migrant expatriation flights, an activity it began in April 2025. It justifies this decision by a “strategic change”.
She backs away from the controversy. The American low-cost airline Avelo Airlines will end its flights to expel migrants from the United States by the end of the month, according to a statement from its management cited by several American media.
The Houston (Texas)-based company signed an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security in April 2025 to carry out migrant deportation flights but has since faced a campaign of protests and boycotts.
Avelo Airlines will stop deportation flights from January 27.
“This decision reflects a strategic shift to focus exclusively on commercial passenger transport, Avelo’s core business, and on the long-term growth of its network,” the company said in its press release.
Although the deportation flights have “generated additional revenue”, they have also “generated operational complexity which no longer corresponds to the company’s priorities”, she admitted.
Avelo Airlines was itself a subcontractor of CSI Aviation, the government-contracted company that manages migrant deportation flights. According to official federal spending data, CSI Aviation has received more than $560 million for deportation flights to date.
The NGO Human Rights First has recorded more than 11,000 deportation flights between January and November 2025. For the month of November alone, there were 1,454 deportation flights, 17% of which were carried out by the company Avelo.
