As airports get busier and busier, airlines are adding new routes out of Connecticut.
Avelo Airlines announced several new travel destinations out of Tweed New Haven Airport, and a new international route out of Bradley International Airport.
Starting in February of 2025, Avelo will have four new nonstop domestic routes out of Tweed, to Jacksonville, FL, Detroit, MI, Dallas-Fort Worth, TX and seasonal flights to Portland, ME.
The airline will also fly direct to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic out of Bradley.
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“We talk to our customers regularly and we hear from them where they’d like us to fly, and these are destinations that we’ve heard loud and clear that they want us to add,” Jim Olson, Avelo spokesperson, said. “Our purpose and mission at Avelo is to inspire travel, and we do that by making it more affordable to people, and easier for them to travel more.”
Travelers like Michelle Deserres of Burrillville, RI, said she chooses Tweed because of its convenience.
“I love the smaller airports,” Deserres said. “I love that it flies into smaller airports, that it’s a direct flight, I love that it’s really convenient, the times are great. I love it.”
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At Bradley, the airport saw a 25.5% increase in travel from 2021 to 2022, and a 7.8% increase from 2022 to 2023.
“The further we've gotten away from the start of the pandemic, the busier it's gotten. This year has been incredibly busy for TSA. I know at Bradley, seven of our top 10 busiest days at Bradley have come this year,” TSA New England spokesperson Daniel D. Velez said.
“Bradley's busiest day ever was Dec. 1, the Sunday after this past Thanksgiving, where we screened 13,600 people," he continued.
Travelers said they’re noticing the bustle at airports everywhere.
“It’s been crazy lately. Me and my mom took a trip to Spain over Thanksgiving and it was just nuts going there, coming back,” Erin McGlynn of Springfield, MA, said. “Just a lot more people than the last couple years, especially around the holidays for sure.”
