Today was a momentous day for my home airport and the city of Salem as ultra low-cost carrier Avelo Airlines has officially inaugurated commercial air service to Salem Municipal Airport/McNary Field! This marked the first time in 15 years since the airport has had commercial jet service. The last time Salem had true airline service was from 2007 to 2008 when SkyWest Airlines offered twice-daily service to Salt Lake City on the behalf of Delta Air Lines using CRJ-200s.
Here's a brief history of Salem's airline service over the years:
- United Airlines was the first airline to serve Salem starting in the early 1940s with piston-engine airliners. After the advent of the jet age, United used Boeing 737s using Salem as a stopover between Portland and San Francisco (flights were routed San Francisco-Medford-Salem-Portland). United stopped serving Salem in 1980.
- Air Oregon, which would later be acquired by Horizon Air, served Salem with flights to Portland and Seattle during the 1980s up until all commercial service to Salem ended in 1993.
- In June 2007, Delta Air Lines via Delta Connection and SkyWest Airlines brought back airline service to Salem with twice-daily flights Delta's hub in Salt Lake City, Utah using CRJ-200s. Service ended a little over a year later in October 2008 due to the "Great Recession." There were also talks in progress with Delta to begin once-daily flights to Los Angeles, which of course never materialized. It is believed that if the 2008 recession had not happened, Delta would likely still be serving Salem today and with more destinations served.
- In April 2011, now-defunct Portland-based SeaPort Airlines attempted intra-state commuter service into Salem with flights to both Newport and Portland, which ended up being short-lived with the airline ending service in July 2011. Many argue this attempt doesn't count because of how short-lived SeaPort's presence was, not to mention the tarnished reputation the airline suffered as a result.
- In 2018, the Fly Salem Steering Committee was formed with representatives of various organizations and offices as part of a joint-effort to once again bring commercial air service back into Salem. They conducted a study in 2019 determining the catchment area of Salem and concluded that airline service is even more viable now due to various factors, including the worsening commute up I-5 to Portland, emissions, etc. Since forming, the committee met with various airlines over the past five years (including the new 2021 start-ups) and determined that the four most popular destinations people would like to fly to from Salem included the Los Angeles basin, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and the San Francisco bay area. The committee also initially planned on pursuing service from a full-service carrier to a major hub, but changed tactics upon seeing how successful ultra low-coast carriers and the recent start-ups (such as Avelo and Breeze) have been. The committee hopes to attract a full-service legacy carrier (either through mainline or regional partner) some time in 2024.
- On April 10, 2023, the city of Salem approved an air carrier agreement with at the time, an undisclosed airline to begin service to Salem with initial service to the LA area and Las Vegas. And finally on July 13, 2023 it was revealed that the then-undisclosed airline was Avelo Airlines, announcing twice-weekly service to both Las Vegas and Burbank (both of which are Avelo's west coast hubs) slated to begin in early October.
Of course with Salem currently being my home airport, I HAD to photograph the inaugural service! Because I had to work this morning, I couldn't be around to see the inaugural arrival, but I was able to get off work just in time to see the inaugural departure. Today, Avelo began with service to Las Vegas and the Burbank flights begin tomorrow.
Salem (SLE)
Preview:
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| Avelo Airlines Boeing 737-752 (N706VL) taxiing for departure as VXP220 for Las Vegas, the inaugural flight! |
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| Airport Fire Department providing VXP220 the ceremonial water cannon salute! |
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| Arrived earlier this morning from Las Vegas as VXP219. Avelo has been serving Las Vegas since September 2021 and it become one of their newest bases as of last month. It is the airline's sixth base and only the second one on the west coast after Burbank. |
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| A full view of the water cannon salute! |
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| As it turns out, both the inbound and outbound flights for today were sold out, which is hopefully a good sign for future growth. |
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| This is the same airframe I saw down in Eugene last month. Glad I could catch it again today as I was slightly dissatisfied when I last photographed this airframe down there. |
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| Avelo's 737-700 is probably the largest airliner to serve Salem on a scheduled basis since United's 737 days. That being said, I certainly hope this new venture for the city and Avelo is successful here because despite being the smallest type in the fleet, the 737-700 is still a fairly large airplane to fill for Salem at nearly 150 seats! |
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| With Vegas flights starting today and Burbank flights starting tomorrow, Salem got two of the four destinations they would like to see served. Only time will tell regarding potential service to Phoenix and the San Francisco bay area. And who knows? We might see a different airline(s) serving those other two destinations the city wants to connect to. |
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| Hopefully, the 737-700 is the right sized aircraft for Salem. |
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| The other nice thing about having Avelo here in Salem is I no longer have to drive down to Eugene to chase down their 737s! |
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| VXP220 departing on 31 for Las Vegas. |
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| At nearly 6,000 feet, Runways 13/31 at Salem is plenty long enough to handle 737s. |
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| Airborne, as today marks the beginning of a new chapter for the Salem Airport. |
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| What a exciting treat it was to catch today's inaugural flight at my home airport! |
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