Inside Avelo’s Controversial ICE Flights: Flight Attendants Claim FAA Safety Rules Are Being Violated

Flight attendants at Avelo Airlines, the low-cost carrier that took on a controversial contract with ICE to operate deportation flights, claim the airline could be violating FAA safety regulations on these flights.

In an open letter sent to Avelo’s chief executive, Andrew Levy, last week, the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA) concedes that the airline has, at least, written policies to comply with FAA rules on ICE flights, but that flight attendants are prevented from following them.

The hard-hitting letter alleges that Avelo “has failed to give Flight Attendants the tools, training, or authority to actually ensure compliance with FAA safety requirements.”

The letter explains: “Our Union and the Avelo flight attendants we represent have grave concerns about safety on Avelo flights flown for the Department of Homeland Security to deport detainees of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”

“Based upon reports we are receiving from our members, Avelo is not following FAA safety requirements.”

The union lists a number of key concerns, including:

• No training in how to evacuate shackled passengers.
• Flight attendants prevented by ICE agents from performing safety checks.
• Lack of cabin modifications to allow shackled passengers to evacuate.

“Recent press reports have documented how ICE flights by other airlines have not accounted for passenger safety in the event of an emergency,” the letter continues. “Unfortunately, these issues are now occurring on Avelo ICE flights.”

In April, Levy confirmed that Avelo has signed a deportation contract with ICE following “significant deliberations” that concluded the contentious flights would provide the carrier with a stable stream of revenue.

Avelo initially committed three of its Boeing 737s to ICE flights, basing them at a new location at Mesa Gateway Airport in Arizona. The airline now plans to expand its ICE contract with an additional base in El Paso, Texas.

Levy has faced down intense criticism and calls for a boycott over Avelo’s ICE flights, although the airline was quick to repaint its deportation planes in an all-white livery, removing any Avelo branding.

The Association of Flight Attendants has urged Avelo to reconsider its contract with ICE, fearing the deportation flights could cause irreparable damage to the airline’s brand.

The union also fears that its members could unwittingly be caught up in an ICE flight, although Avelo has committed to hiring separate flight attendants who have specifically volunteered to operate these flights.

Avelo is one of several airlines that operate deportation flights on behalf of ICE, although it is the only carrier that also operates regularly scheduled passenger services.

One of the biggest providers of deportation flights is GlobalX, a Miami-headquartered charter carrier that has acquired the nickname ICE Air because of its massive contract with Homeland Security.

In May, the airline’s website was hacked by the Anonymous cyber group in a protest against the deportation flights.

Earlier this year, ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalism site, published a story that revealed what GlobalX flight attendants experienced while working on these deportation flights.

When crew members landed jobs with GlobalX, they thought they were working for an exciting start-up airline that would be flying rock bands and sports teams around the world.

Instead, they soon discovered that GlobalX was concentrating on its ICE flights.

Flight attendants are instructed not to speak or even look at detainees, and, apart from arming the doors for departure and performing a short safety briefing, they don’t do anything for the rest of the flight.

Crew members are instructed to stare out of the window, rather than observe the passengers and flight attendants, speaking under the condition of anonymity, say they were never told what to do in the event of an emergency evacuation.