Aboard Wednesday’s inaugural Avelo flight to Orlando.
Thomas Breen photos
“Aviation geeks” Powaleny and Blevins before boarding at Tweed.
“It’s a beautiful day to fly,” the pilot said over the intercom.
Over 100 passengers — including self-described “aviation nerds” who had traveled from as far as Kansas and Denver for the ride, along with vacationers, reporters, and business boosters — packed together and clicked their seat belts. The “Spirit of The Havens” taxied down the runway for its maiden two-hour-46-minute voyage from New Haven to Orlando. And a new era of local aviation was born.
That was the scene Wednesday morning at the Morris Cove airport straddling the New Haven-East Haven town line.
The purple-and-white Boeing 737 – 700 airplane — which had the name “Spirit of the Havens” printed on its nose — ascended on Avelo’s first flight from New Haven since it announced that Tweed will be its East Coast hub.
Waiting to board Avelo’s Boeing 737 to Orlando on Wednesday.
The recently formed budget airline — which kicked off earlier this year with various West Coast routes based out of Burbank, California — is selling one-way, New Haven-to-Florida tickets for as low as $59.
In the coming days and weeks, Avelo plans to expand its new commercial service from New Haven to include direct flights to six destinations in Florida: Orlando, Tampa Bay, Ft. Myers, Ft. Lauderdale, Palm Beach, and Sarasota.
“Nerds, “Enthusiasts,” & “Geeks” … Unite!
Lloyd Kwan and Andrew Lee.
Soon before takeoff Wednesday, a fire truck parked on the runway sprayed the plane with water — what the pilot described as a “water cannon salute,” a rite of passage for inaugural flights. “It’s a fun tradition,” he said over the intercom.
As the plane picked up speed, lifted its wheels and went airborne, the dozens of masked passengers in the packed cabin cheered from their seats. They did the same when the plane landed to 81-degree weather, palm trees, clear skies, and another water cannon salute in Orlando at around 1:45 p.m.
In between, while at cruising altitude heading south down the East Coast, some passengers got up from their cramped seats (no in-flight movies, no food beyond a cookie and a bottle of water, no WiFi, no frills), and took selfies with Avelo Airlines CEO Andrew Levy and Avports CEO Jorge Roberts, two of the key figures behind the new Tweed-Florida service. Many pressed their cellphones to the planes’ windows, photographing the blue expanse of the Long Island Sound.
Among the passengers were the “aviation enthusiasts” — people, almost all young men, who traveled all across the country to make it to New Haven Wednesday morning to participate in a little bit of airline history. That is, flying on Avelo’s first East Coast flight from New Haven to Orlando.
Andrew Lee, 23, said he took two planes and a train to make it from his home in Las Vegas to New Haven Wednesday morning in time for the Avelo flight. He and fellow airplane obsessive Lloyd Kwan, a 21-year-old from Denver, said they took an Amtrak from New York City to New Haven that got in to Union Station at 4:30 a.m. They spent the morning walking around Yale’s campus in the pre-dawn dark.
“We’re just huge airline nerds,” Lee said when asked why he and Kwan went to all that trouble.
“This is quite a big deal,” Kwan added. “New airlines don’t pop up every day.”
What will he do after arriving in Orlando? Head right back to Las Vegas, Lee said. He took the day off from work so he could travel from New Haven to Orlando.
And where does he work? For an airline, of course. Allegiant Air, which is based out of Las Vegas.
Bryce Rea, Emiliano Padilla, Quentin Solovive, and Zach Scheinman.
Bryce Rea, Emiliano Padilla, Quentin Solovive, and Zach Scheinman also all trekked to New Haven Wednesday to make sure they could fly out on Avelo’s inaugural New Haven-Orlando flight.
“We’re just a bunch of aviation enthusiasts,” said Scheinman, who lives in New Jersey
They’re also all professional YouTubers who make their livings attracting viewers to their videos about traveling on planes all around the world.
“Tweed’s a very interesting airport. I’ve always wanted to fly out of here,” Scheinman said.
What do they think of Avelo based on the flights they’ve been on on the West Coast?
“You get what you pay for,” said Padilla, who lives in Mexico.
“It’s not a full-service airline,” added Rea, who lives in Kansas. But the price is right.
Solovive said his one gripe about the cost of flying out of Tweed was the $42 per day he paid to park at the airport.
That’s because you parked in the lot right next to the departure terminal, Scheinman pointed out. A separate airport parking lot a slightly further walk away would have cost under $20 per day.
Solovive shrugged and smiled. He parked closer for the convenience, he said.
Gov. Lamont, Mayor Elicker, Airport Authority ED Sean Scanlon, Avelo CEO Andrew Levy, Avports CEO Jorge Roberts, and Lt. Gov. Bysiewicz cut the ribbon on the new airline at Tweed.
Tim Powaleny and Connor Blevins also got in on Wednesday’s flight because, as Powaleny said, “we’re aviation geeks.”
Blevins lives in Boston, and Powaleny lives in Orlando. Powalaney said he regularly visits this part of Southern Connecticut because he grew up in, and still has family in, Madison.
“For Thanksgiving alone, I’m excited” to be able to travel directly from Orlando to New Haven by plane, Powalaney said. Especially since his one-way ticket from New Haven to Orlando on Wednesday cost only $77 in total.
Blevins took a look back at Avelo’s two 737’s parked on Tweed’s runway. These are likely “the largest planes that have ever been” at Tweed, he said.
And what made Avelo’s first New Haven-to-Orlando flight fun for an aviation geek like himself? Blevins smiled as he squinted in the sun. “It’s just so random,” he replied.
Flying For Work, Vacation, Softball, Party Boats
Lead flight attendant and East Haven resident Kim Howard (left) on Avelo’s Orlando-bound plane on Wednesday.
Some of the travelers were Avelo and Avports directors and employees who came on board to celebrate the airline’s inaugural East Coast flight.
One such airline employee was Kim Howard — who turned out for Wednesday’s flight as an East Shore neighbor in support of a larger airport, as a local who was recently hired by Avelo as part of Tweed’s expansion, and as the lead flight attendant on Wednesday’s flight down to Orlando.
Howard lives nearby on Hall Street. She said she was a nurse for 18 years before deciding on a career change to aviation. She trained to become a flight attendant, and was hired by Avelo to work out of the airport just down the road from her home.
“It was a jump of faith, but it’s been an amazing experience,” she said about moving into her new airbound career. “Being a nurse and being a flight attendant are both about taking care of people.”
As a neighbor to the airport, she said, she’s excited to have accessible flights that she can actually afford.
Is she worried about noise from the new, more frequent flights?
Not at all, she replied. That’s because her home has already been soundproofed as part of an earlier Tweed effort to appease airport neighbors by mitigating the impact of airplane noise.
Matt Gill: Security (below) moves a lot faster at Tweed than at Bradley.
Some of Wednesday’s travelers were heading down to Florida on vacation, to see elderly parents, or — in one case — to cheer on two daughters as they play in a softball tournament.
“I’m going on a mini-vacation” to meet up with his parents and go to Disney World, said Matt Gill, who lives in Monroe. He said Wednesday was his first time ever flying from Tweed. Putting on his belt and shoes after the five minutes it took to get through the TSA security check, Gill marveled, “It’s different from Bradley. A lot quicker.”
Mike and Christina Bolick.
Mike and Christina Bolick from Oxford were also heading to Orlando on vacation. They also said Wednesday was their first time flying from Tweed. “Couldn’t be happier,” Mike said about the expanding airport and the direct flights to Florida. “It’s getting cold” in Connecticut, he said. Time to head to sunnier territory.
Russ and Roxanne Senerchia.
Russ and Roxanne Senerchia of North Branford said they were flying down to Orlando to attend a softball tournament that two of their daughters are playing in. “It’ll be nice,” Roxanne said about the direct New Haven-to-Florida connection.
Colin Caplan.
Local historian and pizza aficionado Colin Caplan showed up to the airport to watch Avelo’s first plane depart — and to prepare for a New Haven-to-Orlando flight he has tickets for this Friday.
In addition to his New Haven-based businesses, Caplan said, he runs food tours, party bike tours, and party boat tours in Sanford, Florida, not far from Orlando.
“This is awesome. This is so convenient for people doing business” in New Haven and Florida like himself, he said about the new Avelo flights.
He plans to spend a week down in Florida on this upcoming trip. During that time, he aims to test out his company’s party boat — and to “soak up as much sun as possible.”
“Smooth Air”
True to the pilot’s pre-departure promise, Wednesday’s inaugural flight had almost no bumps. “Pretty smooth air,” he said.
Levy handed out commemorative “First Flight” pamphlets that included pockets to store one’s boarding pass as a souvenir.
Avelo CEO Levy (left) cutting another ribbon, this time in Orlando, to celebrate the new New Haven connection.
After landing in Orlando, Levy joined two officials from the central Florida airport for another, much briefer press conference before some of those who had flown down from New Haven to Orlando got right back on the plane to fly two hours back north.
Levy praised Orlando as one of the nation’s best theme park destinations, as well as a city that has grown significantly in recent years. He said Avelo’s new Tweed-Florida service will open up a previously difficult-to-reach-by-plane section of Southern Connecticut to Florida travelers.
“This is the start of a new era,” he said.
On To Bigger Things
Scanlon, Levy, and Roberts.
To Tweed supporters and air travel enthusiasts from across the country, Wednesday’s presser and subsequent nonstop two-hour-and-46-minute flight from New Haven to central Florida marked a milestone in Tweed’s bid to become a bigger airport.
“Today, for the first time ever in the history of Connecticut, there will be nonstop service directly to Florida from Southern Connecticut,” Tweed New Haven Airport Authority Executive Director Sean Scanlon declared to applause during a runway presser held beneath a crystalline-blue sky.
He described Avelo’s kickoff at Tweed as part of a larger planned expansion of the regional airport that will help Tweed “meet its full potential” and offer “a vibrant second choice” for Southern Connecticut air travelers who do not want to make the trip up to Bradley Airport in Hartford.
Gov. Lamont (right) at Wednesday’s presser.
“This is part of something so much bigger,” said Gov. Ned Lamont, who made a key gubernatorial campaign stop in 2018 at Tweed and has long promised to push for a larger airport in New Haven. “It’s the rejuvenation of an airport that originally started in 1931. … Regional airports are a big part of our economic future.”
He described the Greater New Haven area as “an economic hub and a transportation hub.”
“This is where people are gonna go,” he said. “And this is why we ought to be expanding right here.”
“We like being the first,” said Avelo CEO Andrew Levy. “We like doing things differently. And we like taking risks.
“This is a risk we feel really comfortable taking.”
One of Avelo’s two 737’s, newly stationed at Tweed.
Wednesday’s liftoff came several weeks after the Board of Alders approved a new 43-year agreement between the city and the airport authority that paves the way for a separate, still-in-the-works 43-year agreement between the airport authority and Avports. Avports, the Goldman Sachs-owned company that has managed Tweed for the past two decades, has promised to invest $70 million in extending the airport’s runway and building a new four-to-six gate terminal on the East Haven side of the property in a bid to attract new commercial air carriers.
The Whole G cafe in Tweed’s departure terminal.
Scanlon said that the airport authority, Avports, and Avelo are roughly three-quarters of the way through $10 million worth of upgrades to the current New Haven-side terminal buildings to make way for Avelo. Some of those improvements include new signing, reconfigured parking, check-in trailers, the setting up of Whole G cafe in the departure terminal waiting area, and the conversion of the existing terminal to a departures-only building, and the existing administration building into arrivals-only.
Goldman Sachs-owned company that has managed Tweed for the past two decades, has promised to invest $70 million in extending the airport's runway and building a new four-to-six gate terminal on the East Haven side of the property in a bid to attract new commercial air carriers.
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