Avelo Airlines leaving Salem in August. My reaction: “I told you so”

To nobody's surprise except the City Council, Chamber of Commerce, and Travel Salem — who assured citizens in 2023 that this time, really, you can count on it, an airline offering commercial service will remain at the Salem airport — Avelo Airlines has announced that as of August 10 it will no longer have flights to and from our once-again airline'less city.

Here's an excerpt from today's Salem Reporter story by Rachel Alexander and Mirandah Davis-Powell, "Avelo pulls out of Salem."

Avelo Airlines is ending flights out of Salem in August, leaving the community again without a commercial operator after a years-long effort to return service.

The announcement Monday morning caught city officials and business leaders by surprise. Avelo officials said the flight cancellations as of Aug. 10 followed a company decision to close a hub in Burbank and end all West Coast service later this year. 

The move did not reflect on Salem specifically, company officials said. 

Activists nonetheless claimed credit for the shutdown, which followed sustained protests in Salem and other cities about the airline’s service in other states to federal immigration agencies.

Avelo’s base in the Los Angeles area has two aircraft that fly to Salem and other West Coast destinations, spokeswoman Courtney Goff said. The first airplane will stop flying Aug. 12, ending flights to some destinations, including Salem.

Avelo will stop flying the second aircraft and close the base effective Dec. 2. The company is offering refunds to all passengers for now-canceled flights.

Burbank was one of two destinations the budget airline flew from Salem, and the only one operating year-round.

Avelo will also end flights from Eugene in December.

Avelo spokeswoman Courtney Goff declined to say how full flights out of Salem were or how many passengers were affected by their reservations being canceled. 

I like the story's title, Avelo pulls out of Salem, because it nicely reflects the classic image of Charlie Brown and Lucy that I use to illustrate the unjustified optimism of those who keep plugging for commercial airline service at the Salem airport.

For those too young to know about Charlie Brown and Lucy, every fall Lucy promises that she'll put her finger on the ball so Charlie Brown can kick it, and every fall Lucy pulls the ball away just as Charlie Brown thinks this time she won't do it.

Back in January 2023 every member of the City Council voted to approve $2.4 million in precious general fund dollars to lure an airline to offer services in Salem. I presciently called my blog post about this decision, "City Council approves $2.4 million for airport in dumb move." 

The City Council action was opposed by a majority of people testifying at the meeting, including representatives of 350 Salem OR who decried adding to our city's greenhouse gas emissions when we have a marvelous airport in nearby Portland.

But in this town money talks, and business leaders talked the City Council into spending several million dollars on another quixotic attempt to bring commercial air service to Salem — ignoring the fact that United Airlines pulled out in 1980, smaller airlines pulled out in 1993, Delta Connection flights began in 2007 and ended in 2008, and a commuter airline started and ended service within just three months in 2011.

Hopefully this latest failed attempt to bring commercial air service to Salem will be the final nail in the coffin of such efforts. City councilors need to think more independently and not be swayed by pie-in-the-sky sales jobs from airlines, the Chamber of Commerce, City of Salem staff, and Travel Salem that aren't backed by common sense.

At least I can hold my skeptical head high. It's a pleasure to share this passage from my January 2023 post where I called the $2.4 million general fund expenditure a dumb move. I predicted commercial air service would only last 1-2 years, which is what happened.

So the nine City Council members, most of whom are progressives who claim to want Salem to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions as called for by the Climate Action Plan they approved, just agreed to spend $2.4 million to bring large highly polluting commercial passenger planes to the airport.

Why? Because the Chamber of Commerce and Travel Salem want to make it easier for out-of-state people to visit nearby wineries, maybe spending time at a Salem hotel, but probably not — since there are more attractive lodging options elsewhere in Northwest Oregon's wine country.

But, wow, we might get to be the West Coast hub for a budget airline that's probably destined to go out of business after sucking up the benefits of the $2.4 million the City Council has just bestowed on the unnamed airline.

Few people in Salem appear to want to subsidize another attempt at bringing commercial air service here. Yet City of Salem staff are for this; some in the business community are for this; so every member of the City Council dutifully went along with a project at odds with their own Climate Action Plan, and common sense, because whatever city staff and the Chamber wants, they usually get from the City Council.

When the unnamed airline ceases service in Salem after a year or two, I won't be shy in telling everyone who voted for this, "I told you so." Unfortunately, the homeless people who could have been helped mightily by the $2.4 million in general fund dollars won't be saying that to the City Council.

Because in this town those with the most money have the loudest voice. And that's who the City Council listens to most assiduously.