Gallery Update: Avelo Airlines Inaugural to/from Santa Rosa!

Earlier this past February, Avelo Airlines announced that they would establish a new west coast base at Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa, California effective May 1st. When the airline first commenced operations in April 2021, the first route they operated was from Burbank to Santa Rosa and back, so it seemed appropriate considering how special the Bay Area airport has become to the airline. This however meant that Avelo would close their Las Vegas base effective April 30th, just seven months after opening it. But it is worth noting that Avelo did not eliminate any of the destinations currently served from Las Vegas (at least for right now) and just moved their based aircraft and crew over to Santa Rosa. The reason the airline shifted their assets over from Las Vegas to Santa Rosa was for better efficiency and ease of sharing resources as necessary with their Burbank base (quite a few intra-state routes in California are clearly working for the airline).

As part of their announcement of opening a new base in Santa Rosa, Avelo Airlines announced four new routes, effectively doubling the number of destinations served from the small Bay Area airport,  and Salem happened to be one of them, which of course started today! Other destinations Avelo announced as part of their expansion out of Santa Rosa included Boise (Idaho), Glacier Park/Kalispell (Montana), and Pasco/Tri-Cities (Washington); the airline was already serving Burbank (the inaugural city-pair for the airline!), Las Vegas, Palm Springs, and Redmond (on a seasonal basis) prior to the new route announcements.

While the weather was dreadful for an inaugural flight, it was still light enough for me to chase down the flight for a quick, local spotting trip! And while I already did photograph the airframe Avelo used on today's inaugural on a prior spotting trip, this occasion allowed me to get some taxiing shots of the plane I didn't get, so it was still worth chasing down this flight.

Salem (SLE)

Preview:

Avelo Airlines Boeing 737-7H4 (N703VL) arriving on 13 as VXP822 from Santa Rosa.

This is the inaugural flight connecting Salem and Santa Rosa!

VXP822 clearing 13 at the end. With the addition of the Santa Rosa route, Salem has become Avelo's second-largest outstation (in terms of the number of destinations served) in the state of Oregon behind Redmond.

Face-to-face with the 737-700!

VXP822 taxiing to the terminal.

When Avelo started serving Salem seven months ago, they served two of the four destinations the city had on its wish-list (Las Vegas and the LA Basin via Burbank). With the addition of Santa Rosa, the city of Salem to some extent, now has direct flights to the San Francisco Bay Area, which is the third destination on the initial wish-list. Although Santa Rosa is over 60 miles north of San Francisco (much like the distance between Salem and Portland), there are some feasible ground transport options (including bus and rail service) passengers can utilize down there.

VXP822 crossing 16/34.

Something else notable about this new route operated by Avelo is that it directly connects two different wine countries in two different states on the west coast. So hopefully, this new service will appeal to a certain market and stimulate the respective enotourism (a.k.a. wine tourism) industries in both the Willamette Valley and California's Wine Country.

Avelo's new Salem/Santa Rosa service will operate twice-weekly in the evenings on Mondays and Fridays.

I have to say, this new service starting today seems to have received little to no fanfare, as I noticed that both social medias for the airline and city/airport have been quiet and made no mention of it (as far as I can tell). Honestly, for a city that's struggled to maintain airline service in the past, I think it's a shame and a disappointment that they didn't give it the hype it deserved, especially for Salem, where every new route it gains ought to be celebrated.

Scheduled to depart back to Santa Rosa as VXP823. Avelo has lasted seven months here in Salem, so here's hoping this new route addition is successful.

Gallery Update: CRJ-200 Sighting in Corvallis!

Weather was decent enough to get a quick flight in, even if I stayed local. Actually, I noticed something worth chasing down as I noticed that it flew into Corvallis via FlightRadar24, so I flew down to Corvallis specifically to go see it. What I was after was a CRJ-200 operated by regional powerhouse SkyWest Airlines' newest subsidiary, SkyWest Charter (SWC).

SkyWest Charter was launched by the parent company earlier this year after unveiling the concept last year as a solution to address the so-called ongoing pilot shortage by getting around pilot training hour requirements to alleviate said shortage and continue subsidized flights to small communities across the U.S.; this was a result of SkyWest themselves requesting to terminate routes for over 30 communities served by the government-subsidized Essential Air Service (EAS) program, intended to provide small communities with regular air connectivity around the country back in March 2022, again, blaming the pilot shortage. SkyWest Charter intends to emulate operators like Contour Airlines and JSX, which already operate under Part 135, which are different regulations under Federal Aviation Administration rules as “public charters” rather than “scheduled passenger flights.” As a result, the company can get around certain pilot certification requirements and hire crew with fewer hours to fly these planes. Another important aspect is that the public charter regulations dictate no more than 30 seats, so the SkyWest Charter CRJ-200s, normally a 50-seater would only have 30 passenger seats.

Corvallis (CVO)

Preview:

SkyWest Charter Bombardier CL-600-2B19 CRJ-200LR (N916SW) parked on the ramp. My first time seeing the SkyWest Charter livery and logo!

Arrived last night from Eugene as SCW3085 for a short hop after working a charter into Eugene from Los Angeles as SCW4020.

Airframe has a rather unremarkable history. It was first delivered to SkyWest Airlines in April 2002 and flew solely on the behalf of United Airlines' United Express branding.

During the pandemic, the airframe went into storage at Tucson for two years from November 2020 until November 2022, when it returned to service.

Airframe was transferred over to SkyWest Charter in June of this year and has been flying regularly around the country. While the airline has received all the necessary regulatory approvals to operate on-demand charter flights, they are still awaiting FAA commuter authority that allows them to operate scheduled charter flights like Contour or JSX.

SkyWest Charter operates under their own code and call-sign, which is "Charter West." While SkyWest Airlines' solution of going the public charter route with 20 less seats seem sound, this isn't without controversy.

SkyWest Charter has drawn criticism from the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the largest airline pilots union, as they have repeatedly objected to the certification of this subsidiary, claiming that this strategy roll back the clock and skirt the aviation safety rules regarding pilot hiring minimum requirements and qualifications.

ALPA also argues that Part 135 certified carriers should be barred from receiving contracts to operate government-subsidized essential air service routes, and should instead have the DOT substantially increase funding for the program to ensure air service continues.

Face-to-face with the specially-configured CRJ-200. Another restriction SkyWest Charter will have to adhere to is that their operations must remain independent and outside of the capacity purchase agreements that SkyWest Airlines flies under Part 121 with major carriers, which means no codeshares; interline agreement partnerships should be okay though.

Flight Design CTSW (N306CT) parked on the ramp.

One last look at the SkyWest Charter CRJ-200. Regardless of the controversies this new regional subsidiary generated, SkyWest Charter will need to get their commuter approval from the FAA before they can even start to think about applying for EAS contracts.

Gallery Update: A Foggy Day in Salem

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas yesterday!

My brother in-law was down in Los Angeles, California with his parents and siblings and decided to fly up to Oregon to spend New Years with us and my sister here in Salem and I ended up picking him up after getting off work. Better yet, since he was in the Los Angeles area, he ended up taking the new Avelo Airlines service between Burbank and Salem, which as you recall was inaugurated this past October! My brother in-law picked the two most convenient airports on the west coast to fly in and out of! Unfortunately for him, what should've been convenient a two hour flight ended up being a seven hour ordeal on the plane due to fog here in Salem, which brought visibility down to a half-mile and his flight ended up diverting.

Today's flight to and from Salem out of Burbank was one of those special extra Tuesday flights for the holiday season that should've been a mid-morning arrival (as the regularly-scheduled Burbank flights have since switched to evening flights on Thursdays and Sundays). However, due to half-mile visibility from the fog this morning, my brother in-law's flight ended up going missed after shooting an approach and the flight crew decided to divert to Redmond; from what I could tell, the visibility was below landing minimums for any of the instrument approaches Salem-McNary Field has. This of course, put a damper on things and I ended up sticking around the airport getting updates on this Avelo Airlines flight's status. In the end, I killed time by going out for lunch and working/helping on a few small projects at the club hangars until my brother in-law's flight eventually managed to get into Salem four hours later.

So while my brother in-law did pick two of the most convenient airports to fly in and out of on the west coast, he picked a pretty bad day to fly into Salem! And seven hours onboard a Boeing 737-700 is pretty brutal for domestic flight standards here in the U.S., so I can certainly empathize there. But from a pilot's perspective, it was standard operating procedures for the flight to divert to an alternate airport, a standard practice when flying IFR...

Salem (SLE)

Preview:

Avelo Airlines Boeing 737-752 (N705VL) arriving on 31 after shooting an ILS approach as VXP185 from Redmond after initially diverting from Burbank with my brother in-law on board.

This flight should've touched down in Salem four hours earlier but ended up going missed after shooting an ILS approach and visibility was unfortunately down to half a mile.

Using a combination of FlightRadar24, Foreflight, and my air band radio, I was able to track this flight rather religiously and quickly figure out what would end up happening.

The reason why the flight ended up diverting to Redmond-Roberts Field out of any other potential alternate airport is because Redmond happens to be Avelo's largest outstation in Oregon; the airline currently provides flights to Burbank, Las Vegas, Santa Rosa, and Palm Springs out of Redmond.

Thankfully, visibility increased and fog lifted enough several hours later for the flight to come in...

VXP185 taxiing to the gate. Seven hours in a 737 for what should've been a simple two hour domestic flight is pretty brutal. As one aviation YouTuber would put it, "Weather is the great equalizer."

While inconvenient for everyone else, the diversion was standard operating procedures for IFR flying. And this was still one of my easier (not to mention convenient!) airport runs I've done for someone! No hour drive to Portland or Eugene for me today!

Scheduled to return to Burbank as VXP186 four hours late. I'm sure the outbound passengers were happy to see the plane finally arrive and they would soon be underway after getting delayed. Avelo needs to claim Salem as their next west coast hub and base some planes here fast!

Gallery Update: Chasing an Avelo Airlines 737-700 in Salem

Well, it's finally happening! I'm chasing down new (at least new to me!) 737 airframes Avelo Airlines sends up to Salem and I bagged another today. Today is Tuesday, and per Avelo's schedule, this isn't a normal day for Avelo to be sending flights up to Salem. However, in anticipation of increased demand due to the holiday travel season and considering that we're only six days away from Christmas, Avelo has added an extra frequency between Salem and Burbank, making this particular route temporarily thrice-weekly; the extra flights are scheduled on the weeks before and after Christmas (they did the same thing for Thanksgiving last month as well).

And with the current schedule, Avelo's regular Thursday and Sunday flights to/from Burbank are currently in the evening, which would normally make it difficult to photograph any Burbank-based aircraft this time of year. But the Tuesday Burbank flights happen to take place in the morning, making this particular opportunity possible.

Salem (SLE)

Preview:

Dassault Falcon 7X (N150BC) airborne off of 13 for Scottsdale, Arizona.

Avelo Airlines Boeing 737-7H4 (N708VL) arriving on 13 as VXP185 from Burbank. I think this is my first time seeing an arrival on 13...

Weather is lousy, but shots depicting the visual effects the reverse thrust has on the wet wet runway is pretty spectacular!

This nearly-20-year old airframe has a relatively unremarkable and simple history.

VXP185 clearing the active and taxiing to the gate.

Face-to-face with the 737-700.

VXP185 crossing Runway 16/34.

After rolling off the assembly line, airframe was first delivered to Southwest Airlines in June 2004 as N466WN.

This was one of many -700 airframes Southwest operated under lease from a lessor.

Airframe stayed with Southwest Airlines until its withdrawal from the fleet in May 2022.

Airframe went into storage at Dothan Regional Airport in Alabama from September until November of 2022.

Avelo scooped up this airframe in November 2022 and put into service that same month, so this airframe has been with the airline for just over a year.

After acquiring this airframe, Avelo Airlines initially utilized it for their now-larger east coast network from their New Haven base.

N708VL only just recently got rotated over to the west coast, being based out of Burbank.

As previously mentioned, the regular Burbank flights are currently scheduled to take place in the evening, which made it hard to catch this airframe until this opportunity presented itself, thanks to the holiday season.

VXP185 turning towards the terminal.

I've been inside the Salem Airport terminal and got to go behind the post-security waiting area last month (by invitation as part of a club-wide application process) when I had to go get my new airport badge. Long-story-short, Avelo's 737-700s seats 147 passengers; the post-security waiting area in the tiny terminal doesn't even come close to seating that many! So one could only imagine what it's like if the flight is full, or worse, two flights worth of passengers in the terminal at the same time!

VXP185 pulling up to the terminal.

N708VL departing on 13 for the return-trip to Burbank as VXP186.

The sun broke out of the clouds to brighten up these shots!

With 13 in use, this is also my first time seeing one of Avelo's departures going in this direction.

I'm sure the pilots appreciate the more-direct southbound departure using 13 as both of Avelo's current destinations out of Salem are south of here!

Rotate!

VXP186 airborne off of 13.

Flights to Burbank must be popular out of Salem for Avelo to temporarily add a second weekly flight. Shouldn't be surprising because the Los Angeles Basin has a lot to offer.

From what I've heard, Avelo has been pleased so far with the current load factors they've seen on both their Vegas and Burbank flights (which is cautiously-optimistic good news for the city!), with Burbank flights faring a little better than Vegas.

As it turns out, this round-trip between Burbank and Salem are the only legs scheduled for this airframe today, which shows that Tuesday in general are a low-utilization day for Avelo.