Due to strong performance at Wilmington International Airport, low-cost carrier Avelo Airlines announced an extension of its seasonal service to Fort Lauderdale, Florida as well as the return of seasonal service to Baltimore.
 
Avelo entered the Wilmington market in June with promotional fares as low as $39 for three nonstop routes to Baltimore, New Haven, Connecticut and Orlando, Florida. Just a month after launching service out of ILM, Avelo announced it would add a fourth seasonal route to Fort Lauderdale, scheduled to begin in November after seasonal service to Baltimore ended this fall.

When the inaugural flight to Fort Lauderdale took off on Nov. 11, it departed with the Boeing 737-800 aircraft nearly full. Flights to Fort Lauderdale were initially slated to sunset at the end of April, but on Monday Avelo announced it would extend the route through mid-June. 
 
Courtney Goff, an Avelo spokesperson, said the airline extended its Fort Lauderdale service due to strong bookings for the route so far.
 
Inbound and outbound service to Fort Lauderdale is offered every Monday and Friday through June 2023, with outbound service scheduled for mornings and inbound service in the afternoon.
 
Seasonal service to Baltimore will resume in May, with inbound and outbound service offered every Sunday and Thursday through June. Avelo has not currently listed flights out of ILM beyond June 2023.
 
Last month, airport officials announced a second low-cost carrier, Sun Country Airlines, coming to ILM with a seasonal route to Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport next year. Sun Country’s nonstop service to Minneapolis will run twice weekly from June 1 through Labor Day weekend.
 
Additionally, legacy carrier Delta Air Lines recently extended its seasonal service from ILM to LaGuardia Airport to a year-round nonstop offering.
 
Avelo Airlines launched in April 2021 and now serves 34 destinations across the country. Avelo’s new routes at ILM have helped boost total passengers at the airport, along with legacy carriers like Delta and American Airlines now utilizing larger aircraft for routes out of Wilmington. The airport is poised to serve more than 1 million passengers this year, as it did for the first time in 2019.