Avelo Airlines (XP, Burbank) will open a new crew base at Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina, next February to launch new nonstop services to six Florida cities, significantly expanding air access to the so-called Research Triangle in the Piedmont region anchored by the cities of Raleigh and Durham.

In a statement, Avelo Airlines said it would open the fifth base on February 16, 2023, with one B737, adding a second later in the quarter. Over the next two years, it plans to deploy five to seven aircraft to Raleigh/Durham. The airline operates a leased fleet of six B737-700s and five B737-800s, ch-aviation fleets data reveals. The budget carrier also has crew bases in Burbank, New Haven, Orlando International, and, from early February, Wilmington New Castle.

Starting on February 2, 2023, Avelo Airlines will launch flights from Raleigh/Durham to Fort Lauderdale International, Fort Myers Southwest Florida, Orlando International, Sarasota/Bradenton, Tampa International, and West Palm Beach International. It will be the only airline serving Fort Myers, Sarasota-Bradenton and West Palm Beach nonstop from Raleigh-Durham, from where it already started services to New Haven in May 2022.

Delta Air Lines already has a crew base at Raleigh/Durham and shares top space with American Airlines in terms of market share (weekly seat capacity) at the airport. Other competitors with a significant stake in the market are Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Frontier Airlines, Spirit Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Air Canada, and Icelandair, according to the ch-aviation capacities module.