Local advocacy groups, including the Immigrant Allies Forum, Indivisible Wilmington, and the Wilmington Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, lined the road leading to Wrightsville Beach, asking vacationers to 'fly their values.'
One of the organizers of the protest, Katie Randall, who ran as a Democratic candidate for state Senate last year, said they chose the location to make as many travelers as possible aware of the partnership Avelo entered into earlier this year with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to conduct deportation flights.
“We know that county money has been given to Avelo to advertise Wilmington and other locations to try and get folks to travel here on their vacations," she said. We want to make sure that people are flying their values, making sure that they're aware that even though it's a low-cost ticket, it may come at a high human rights cost.”
Avelo Airlines is a budget carrier that services 23 states. In April, the airline opened a new operating base in Wilmington. Since then, protests have sprung up across the city.
Related: Immigration advocates want low-cost airline Avelo to “read the room” and drop deal with ICE
The first Avelo protest was held in May directly in front of the airport, but this week marked the collaborative’s national campaign aiming to [Quote] “exert commercial pressure” on the airline since striking the deal, said another organizer, Wesley Magruder.
“This is a national campaign now, and so we are participating today in a national protest. This is happening across the country in many of the cities where Avelo has a presence.”
Joel Barrio, one of the many protestors on the scene and a member of the Wilmington Democratic Socialists of America, explained what brought everyone out: “So Avelo Airlines is a commercial airlines. They're the only airline commercially that has a contract with ice. They're flying deportation flights out of Arizona to El Salvador. So we're just trying to tell people, Just boycott them.”
Barrio interacted with a passer-by who said he was "on the other side of the aisle" on the issue. And while there isn't broad agreement on the immigration issue, and changing people's minds on the topic might be tough, advocates locally and nationwide want travellers to at least switch their choice of airline.
“And it seems to be working,” says Magruder.
“I mean, a few weeks ago, Avelo shut down some of its flights, cut back on some of its roots, not here in Wilmington, but elsewhere in the country.”
Magruder hopes that these local efforts will lead to big changes here.
For its part, Avelo has defended its decision to work with ICE, citing the need for financial stability.
Following the money
John Herrmann, a member of the steering committee for Indivisible Actions Southeast North Carolina, filed a public records request with the New Hanover County Airport Authority in May.
After a couple of months, Deputy Airport Director Robert Campbell wrote back to inform Herrmann that the Airport Authority did not allocate any funds for Avelo, nor did they approve any budget amendments for the airline.
Campbell sent a copy of Avelo's lease agreement, that he said "is standard across all airlines operating at ILM," and sent an attachment of the authority's incentive program — which is offered to all airlines.
However, after many back-and-forth emails, Campbell confirmed that $1,017,413 in local marketing funding has gone to promoting Avelo flights and ILM Airport since Avelo started operating in 2022.
Campbell also confirmed that the airline company has received $200,000 from ILM Airport for reimbursement of eligible expenses, but did not divulge what qualifies as 'eligible expenses.'
He also stated that the Wilmington and Beaches Convention and Visitors Bureau has a separate marketing budget to promote travel to Wilmington in outside markets.
According to the details of the Incentive Program, the Wilmington & Beaches CVB agreed to invest up to $125,000 in destination marketing funds for each new route an airline company offers.
Since the Wilmington & Beaches CVB is a separate entity, Campbell could not provide the exact dollar amount they have paid out to Avelo for destination marketing services under the public record requests.
Campbell told Herrmann that Avelo has had a significant impact on the local economy since beginning operations.
"Avelo’s impact on our local economy (based on NCDOT data) is approximately $1.1 billion. They have flown 225,901 passengers from ILM with an estimated impact per passenger of $4,990," Campbell wrote.
But Herrmann is not convinced.
He said, "[it's] hard to square with data showing the total tourist spending in New Hanover County was $1.1 billion in 2023. The entire annual GDP for the county was under $20 billion in the last reported fiscal year so it’s hard to believe Avelo deserves credit for so much economic activity."
Similarly, he told WHQR, "I understand the airport is making a case that supporting the airlines' marketing has a good return on investment because it results in travelers coming here and spending money, and while we might dispute how they calculate the ROI, it's hard to argue that marketing the airline does have positive results for the local economy."
He added, "However, this side steps the real ethical problem here, are we willing to look the other way at Avelo's participation in illegal and inhumane deportation flights simply because we profit from their other actions? What is the price tag that we're putting on our own morality if we're willing to allow these deportation flights to continue?"
Below: Avelo's lease agreement and details of the marketing incentive program.
ILM Avelo lease by Ben Schachtman on Scribd
