Houston-based Avelo Airlines has announced it would close its base at the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport in California shortly after agreeing to operate deportation flights of illegal immigrants for the Department of Homeland Security.
The ultra-low-cost carrier will begin deportation flights out of Phoenix-Mesa Airport in Arizona next month . Avelo will also open a new crew base at the airport to support these flights.
The move has prompted backlash with a Change.org petition garnering over 32,000 signatures threatening a boycott of the carrier until it reverses its decision…