Avelo Airlines, the low-cost airline that made a brief foray into becoming an ‘ICE Air’ contractor for controversial deportation flights, allegedly fired its only female Captain after sexist male colleagues and managers labelled her as having a “superior attitude” because she dared to raise safety concerns.
Kimberley Duffy, a veteran aviator who has racked up thousands of hours of flight experience during her career, is now suing Avelo Airlines for sex discrimination after she filed an explosive lawsuit in a Connecticut district court on Thursday.
The lawsuit details a long list of alleged safety violations perpetrated by Avelo Airlines and its predominantly male workforce of pilots, flight instructors, and ground staff. Some of the alleged infractions include:
- Pilots were told that anti-ice on aircraft wings is “never required and never used.”
- There were incorrect schematics for the Boeing 737s hydraulic panel in Avelo’s Quick Reference Handbook used by pilots in emergency situations.
- Alleged “aggressive behavior” by a simulator instructor that became so loud that other courses could overhear what was happening.
- Duffy was told off after she refused to fly a plane that she believed was unsafe because of a “severe flight control issue.”
- Avelo’s scheduling department allegedly manipulated pilot flight hours so that crew remained within legal hours to work long duty days.
- Avelo allegedly ignored a slew of unsafe actions that Duffy reported against another Captain who she flew with.
Duffy joined Avelo Airlines in late 2023 as the carrier’s only female Captain. Her career at the airline, which had only been launched in its current form in 2021 as a low-cost carrier flying to underserved secondary airports, did not, however, get off to a good start.
During her initial classroom training couse, Duffy says she ended up correcting instructors on several occasions about information they were sharing that conflicted with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules.
On one of these occasions, one of the instructors removed Duffy from the classroom and yelled at her in the corridor because she had corrected him.
Several days later, and only after she had reported an aggressive flight instructor, Avelo’s Chief Pilot allegedly “admonished” Duffy for correcting her instructors. She was then issued a performance warning and removed from her training course.
Duffy ended up completing her training course early in 2024 and went on to fly for Avelo, although her time at the carrier wasn’t without drama.
Within months of ‘being on the line,’ Duffy was chastised for refusing to fly a plane that she believed was unsafe due to an issue with the aileron trim system that could have caused an “uncontrollable roll and a catastrophic sudden loss of flight after liftoff.”
The complaint claims Avelo’s Chief Pilot called Duffy after this incident and complained that her “name keeps coming up” and that he was “tired of this.”
Duffy then started to notice that the airline’s scheduling department appeared to be changing pilot report times to allow crew to continue to operate long duty days despite strict FAA flight time limitations designed to prevent fatigue.
During her time at Avelo, the airline rejected her applications for promotion to various positions like Line Training Captain and Simulator Instructor.
Things came to a head, though, when Duffy was assigned to work First Officer position with another Captain on a flight from Tweed-New Haven Airport to Tampa in February 2025.
Duffy claims the male Captain made a litany of FAA safety breaches during the course of the duty. When Duffy challenged the Captain’s behavior, he allegedly made a false radio communication that she was incapacitated, which appeared intended to “intimidate” Duffy.
Following the flight, Duffy filed a lengthy safety report against the Captain on Avelo’s internal safety reporting system, as well as directly to the FAA.
Avelo never followed up with Duffy about her safety concerns, but within days, the airline terminated her employment, listing a slew of incidents that Duffy claims have either been misrepresented or made up.
The ‘final incident’ was an alleged interaction that Duffy had with a member of ground staff during pushback, although she denies the behavior alleged and claims Avelo never conducted a thorough investigation.
Duffy was given an opportunity to resign rather than be terminated in order to protect her ability to find employment with another airline, but even after accepting this compromise, Avelo recorded her reason for leaving on the FAA Pilot Record Database as ‘terminated.’
This designation appears on background checks carried out by other potential employers and could harm Duffy’s ability to get another job.
Duffy asked for the designation to be changed to show she resigned but Avelo as allegedly refused to change the designation.
The lawsuit claims that “male pilots at Avelo explicitly discussed and acted upon the view that Ms. Duffy, as a woman, needed to be controlled and diminished,” and that another other female pilot had also fallen victim to the alleged sexist work culture at the airline.
The lawsuit adds: “As the facts alleged in this Complaint make clear, while Avelo’s marketing proclaims that the company operates according to core Values, including ‘Safety Always’ and ‘Do the Right Thing,’ Avelo’s actual operations reflect a different reality in which Avelo’s male dominated pilot leadership acts with a flagrant disregard for legal obligations and regulations.”
Duffy is suing Avelo for sex discrimination under federal law and retaliation under Connecticut statutes. Avelo is yet to respond to the complaint.
