Avelo Airlines Dubuque - Las Vegas - Inaugural Flight | September 13, 2023

(gentle music) - Good morning, everybody. On behalf of the Airport, Commission and staff, my name's Todd Dolsing. Welcome to the Captain, Martin Terminal at your Dubuque. Regional Airport. We appreciate you. coming this morning for this exciting. inaugural event flight from Dubuque to Las Vegas on a 737-700 which holds about 148 passengers. So, as you notice, a lot of those folks have already gone through screening,. which is a great thing. And if everything. works out as planned, hopefully we'll see a 737. Avelo, beautiful Avelo aircraft, taxi up right behind us or. right behind the speaker. So, you know, don't wanna let, that throw you off at all. So, but with that, as you know, we like to be on time, on. schedule here at the airport. So I'd like to bring up our first speaker, city of Dubuque, Mayor Brad Cavanagh. Mayor. (audience applauds) - Thank you. Well welcome, everybody. How's it going? (audience members responding) Pretty excited to be, here today, aren't we? Yeah, this is another. fantastic day. Well, on behalf of the Dubuque City Council, the city of Dubuque staff, and. the entire Dubuque community, I'm really excited to once again say, "Hello, Avelo" and off to Las Vegas. (audience applauds) Well I wanna first start by saying thank you to Courtney and, everyone at Avelo for their continued partnership. It really is an incredible one and it says a lot, about you as a company. It says a lot about a company that is continuing to invest. in rural America in this way, continuing to invest in the, Dubuque Regional Airport, and our entire region, and I thank you for that. So thank you. I also wanna thank the, it also, says quite a bit I would say about the Dubuque. Regional Airport staff. So Todd, to you and your team, thank you for your continued work in making the Fly Dubuque experience the best experience that you can have flying out of an airport. We can, we appreciate that. (audience applauds) And I wanna thank everybody who's been working so hard to keep and increase. commercial air service here at the Dubuque, Regional Airport. And that goes for, a lot of people. My city council colleagues, other elected officials who are here and working on this every single day, and especially members of the Dubuque Commercial Air Service task, I'm sorry, Dubuque Commercial Air Service team cast. We work diligently every. single week to make sure that we are increasing, our commercial service here at the Dubuque, Regional Airport. And finally, they. can't really hear me, 'cause they're all sitting. there and holding, I know, but I wanna thank the folks that have chosen to fly Avelo from the Dubuque Regional, Airport to Orlando and everyone who for the, months and years ahead will continue to choose. to fly Avelo from Dubuque for nonstop service to, Orlando and Las Vegas. Thank you very much. You are playing an outsized role in this whole endeavor, so thank you. So with that, I'm very excited to celebrate with everyone this day and excited for many,, many more ahead. Thank you. (audience applauds) - Great, great. Thanks, Mayor. Up next, we've got the. Dubuque Racing Association, Stacy Kansky. Stacy. (audience applauds) - ThanK you. - You're welcome. - Well, good afternoon., I am Stacy Kansky. I am the Chief Commercial, Officer at the DRA in Q Casino. I relocated to southwest Florida, from southwest Florida to, Dubuque about one year ago to help me carry out this dream, this vision that I had heard, that would make this unique community of Dubuque and the surrounding areas, just a great place to live, work, and play. With recent roots in Florida, I was really excited to learn of Avelo's emergence into Orlando and as a former resident of Las Vegas, I was absolutely thrilled to find out of Avelo's announcements that its new direct flight path to the City that Never Sleeps. As a non-profit organization, the DRA awarded over, $125,000 last year and another $100,000. this year to grant funds that will help foster.

air service and, facilitate FAM trips. Our organization, aligns with many others acting as a catalyst. to reimagine the future and reinvest in opportunities. to enhance the lives of the tri-state community. residents and locals as well as visitors. and guests from outside in neighboring communities. Collectively, the. business community supports commercial air service and together we can. restore air service to shuttle people back and, forth to these wonderful cities. This moment is an absolute. milestone and it's made possible through great relationships. and partnerships. Q Casino has partnered with Avelo and Palms Casino, Resort, Las Vegas, to offer our guests. a VIP experience and we're awarding our, employee of the year the ultimate trip to Vegas as well. As Q Casino embarks on, its significant renovation and development expansion project, and other areas are, enhanced as a master plan is implemented across Schmitt Island to further develop, recreation, entertainment, and the outdoors, we're eager to welcome guests on our connected. island destination. The beauty is in this, two-way street though, shuttling travelers, back and forth to perhaps explore. a historic city along the majestic Mississippi, or celebrated fields of dreams, or to enjoy world-class, dining or nonstop nightlife in the entertainment and capital that is Vegas. As someone who travels for, both business and pleasure, I'll be taking this flight next month, maybe do a little bit of both. So congratulations to all that who have supported and made this possible. I'm honored to partake in. this wonderful milestone and can't wait to see, where we land next. Thank you. (audience applauds) - Well, as promised, the aircraft is taxiing, into the gate as we speak, so great timing and good job. Thanks for hooking. that up, Court. Thank you, Stacy. Thank you so much. Up next, as someone. you all know and love. We have Justine from the Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce. Justine. (audience applauds) - Hello and happy, Wednesday, as Todd says. My name is Justine Paradiso. So I'm the Vice President of Events and Programs at the Dubuque Area, Chamber of Commerce. I am thrilled to be here today as we welcome the newest flight addition to the Dubuque Regional Airport. Hello, Avelo. Let's go to Vegas. (audience applauds) In a world that is becoming more interconnected, the importance of air, service cannot be overstated. At the chamber, we, have made air service one of our. legislative priorities as a means to enhance our workforce. This is a necessary amenity for our business community to grow, retain, attract,. and keep talented people. We are grateful to have two, wonderful flight options through the Avelo Airlines, to Orlando, Florida, and now Las Vegas, Nevada. People from all over the area can choose from, these destinations while utilizing this, beautiful airport and not to mention. some free parking. It doesn't end here. We continue to work with, our community partners, our local legislators and their staffers, as we strive to return, commercial air service to a major hub. Due to our advocacy efforts and the help of Congress, we have obtained a specific carve out and appropriations bill that can prioritize, our local airport. That is amazing news. (Justine and audience applauding) Air service is not just a means of transportation. It is a force that. binds our community and the world together. It drives economic growth. It is vital in times of need. We must all work together to. continue to support the efforts of bringing daily. flights back to Dubuque, ensuring a brighter,, more connected, and prosperous. future for all of us. But until then, it's time to pack our bags and say, "Viva Las Vegas." (audience applauds) - Thank you, Justine. Appreciate all those great words and it looks like a successful, landing and taxi to the gate. Up next, we've got Travel

Dubuque, Senator Carrie Koelker Carrie. (audience applauds) - Good afternoon. It's another great day in, Dubuque and Dubuque County. You know, we shine for. so many reasons here and it's because of, things like our airports, our people, our places, and our attractions. I'm Carrie Koelker and. I'm with Travel Dubuque and our role as a destination marketing organization is to welcome people, to Dubuque, our county, and our great state of Iowa. So this is great to have. a whole nother niche and a whole nother layer on tourism. We're actually sending people out of Dubuque and back into Dubuque and it wouldn't happen without all the people. and partnerships, with the cast committee,, all of these folks up here. Thank you, Avelo. Thank you, Mayor, for having, it be a hard, hard decision that we've had to do to focus on to make sure that this. airport is full of passengers going in and out. So once again, Todd, congratulations. Thanks for all being here today. (audience applauds) - Thank you, Carrie. And wrapping up our. presentations this morning is Avelo Airlines. representative Courtney Goff. Welcome back, Courtney. (audience applauds) - Hi, everyone. Thank you so much for welcoming back. I was just talking. with someone earlier and I was like it's, so nice to come to where there's, greenery, seasonality, and of course now we're gonna. take people to the desert, so that's fun too. (audience laughs) I just wanna say, thank you so much to the city of Dubuque, for our customers for, really embracing us. This flight is not possible without the community really getting behind Avelo, really promoting our flights, making sure that they. utilize this airport. Which as someone who travels to lots of airports, is one of my favorite ones, because you can come in, get to your counter, get to the gate, and not deal with the, hustle and bustle of, you know, I'll just say it, some of the area airports we have in this region where you can literally come, get your free parking and go. This flight will be twice weekly on Wednesdays and Saturdays with taking off probably, in the next 45 minutes. Prices are still $69 one-way. So you could literally. go to Vegas and back for less than a hundred and,. if I can math right, $140. So really exciting, and free parking. One thing I wanted, to let everyone know is this flight is enabled because we just opened a. Las Vegas base last week. So that means the flights will originate in Vegas, come to Dubuque, and then, go right back to Vegas. So you don't have to. worry about your plane coming from Florida and, going across the country, dealing with whatever, might happen over there. So you don't have to. worry about something on the other side of the country affecting your flight, to the west coast. Avelo is really proud to announce that we have been, so far year-to-date, the number one completion factor which means we've canceled. the least amount of flights of any U.S. carrier and we are number two. in on-time percentage, which means we get you to. your destination early, if not on time, since this. guy came in 10 minutes early. We're proud to have that. And we're number one in all low-cost carriers. So through our base, through, all of our great partnerships, with our business partners. here at the airport, with chamber, with travel, with everybody here, we're just so excited to continue saying, "Hello, Avelo" and we're excited, for what's to come as we continue to grow, acquire new aircraft, and see what other destinations, might land on the map. So thank you guys so much. (audience applauding) - Thank you so much, Courtney. Great to have you, back as always. And you know, we just love, saying, Hello, Avelo," so you're welcome, back, you know, in a month, a couple. months, to do another one. We can put the balloons back up. It's not a big thing for us. We can handle that, so with that, that. concludes our presentation. Thank you all so much for coming. Hello, Avelo. (audience cheering) (gentle music),