Few, if any, anticipated Avelo Airlines would close its local base of operations at the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport less than a year after it opened.

Airport Manager Jon Stout got the news on April 3.

But the real shock came days later when Stout and local elected leaders learned the move was at least partly tied to Avelo’s participation in President Donald Trump’s aggressive campaign against undocumented immigrants.

Under a contract with the Department of Homeland Security, Avelo will provide chartered deportation flights out of a hub in Mesa, Arizona. The airline plans to move some resources, including one of its Boeing 737-800 planes, from Sonoma County to its new Arizona hub to fulfill its new contract.

Though its Sonoma County base is closing, Avelo will still offer flights through the local airport to Burbank, Las Vegas, Palm Springs and Bend/Redmond, Oregon. The canceled destinations are Kalispell, Montana; Ontario, California; Salt Lake City and Boise.

It remains to be seen how the closure of the airport’s only hub will affect it and some of the area’s most likely tourist destinations. Airport and tourism leaders say the financial impact may be minimal, but the loss of some destinations is disappointing.

The news comes as the airport has drawn scrutiny over crumbling infrastructure and tensions with unionized employees over airfield safety issues.

Scaling back

The routes that Avelo plans to cancel brought 30,000 passengers through the Sonoma County airport last year, just under 4% of the total number of passengers the airport served, according to Stout.

The loss of that passenger traffic could represent a dent in money spent at the airport’s concessions, including parking and food. But Stout said the routes had not been around long enough for local businesses to become reliant.

The airport had not begun collecting income from Avelo for its base.

When Avelo opened its base, the airport offered an incentive by waiving the fees up to 24 months, Stout said.

A significant portion of the fees ― 50% ― were due to kick in next month, Stout said.

The airport charges airlines a series of “activity-based” fees, including landing fees, which range from $194.56 to $219.34 per landing depending on the size of the plane. Other variable fees cover the use of the hold rooms, belt systems, stairs and other common areas at $1.84 per departing passenger, Stout said.

Rent for facilities at the airport including warehousing, office space, gate and ticket counters and aircraft parking eventually would have netted $4,741.42 per month, Stout said. Before Avelo opened its base, rent for gate and ticket counters and administration office space cost $1,408.95.

Airport management is still working with Avelo to determine what services and space they’ll continue to use, Stout said. He estimated the fees for a base would have brought in about $200,000 a year.

The airport’s estimated budget for fiscal year 2025-26 is just over $25 million, Stout said.

“It's not going to be that large of an impact on the budget because we are already anticipating a 50% waiver on it and that's what we included in the budget,” Stout said.

Though Avelo’s reduced presence may not amount to a destabilizing financial blow, Stout expressed disappointment over the airline’s decision to scale back.

Some of the markets being canceled, Boise and Salt Lake City in particular, were starting to gain popularity among local travelers.

Losing Salt Lake City International Airport is a blow for eastbound travel because it is a major hub for Delta Air Lines, a commercial air carrier not available at STS, said Claudia Vecchio, president and CEO of Sonoma County Tourism.

“I think that connectivity is what we’re going to miss the most,” she said.

The Kalispell and Ontario flights never gained enough traction to make a measurable impact, but the loss still matters, said Keo Hornbostel, executive director of Safari West. He also is vice chair of Sonoma County Tourism’s Board of Directors.

“Losing air into Sonoma County is going to hurt us all, whether you're talking about restaurants, hotels, Safari West, wineries, breweries,” he said. “It’s going to have an impact on everybody.”

Safari West, however, is not a place that brings travelers to Sonoma County, he said.

“We are a destination, but we're a business that thrives in the community if it’s doing well,” Hornbostel said.

Stout shared their disappointment.

“We fought hard, it took us a long time to get Boise.” Stout said. “Seeing some of these stronger markets that we finally got a service connection to go away, that's disappointing, disrupts people that already made plans for the summer, makes it very frustrating for those passengers.”