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.