Avelo Airlines will base a third Boeing 737 at McKinney National Airport (DTX) northeast of Dallas and open four new destinations from mid-December — before the base has operated a single flight.

Avelo announced McKinney service nearly three months ago. First departures come in November, when the ultra-low-cost carrier launches a pure leisure schedule to Las Vegas plus four Florida airports: Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Orlando and Tampa. The third aircraft now adds cities that look less like conventional leisure routes.

The new schedule, starting in December, breaks down as follows:

• Atlanta: four flights weekly from December 16
• Denver: four flights weekly from December 16
• Nashville: two flights weekly from December 17
• New Orleans: two flights weekly from December 17

Twelve weekly departures across four cities will not fully utilize a 737. The schedule shows gaps of four to six hours between rotations, and the aircraft sits idle on Tuesdays. That leaves room for more announcements before the base matures — and suggests Avelo has further McKinney growth in reserve.

The route selection departs from the first wave in another way. The initial Florida-and-Vegas slate targeted undisguised leisure traffic. Atlanta, by contrast, is the busiest competitive market among the new additions.

Cirium DOT O&D data for the year ending June 2026 show the four largest Dallas Metroplex markets by daily passengers each way — New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington — are absent from Avelo's map. New York makes sense: Avelo's secondary-airport strategy works on origin, not destination, so New Haven is out and LaGuardia is out of reach. Los Angeles reflects the fact that Avelo no longer serves the region at all. But the airline does fly to Chicago O'Hare and Washington Dulles, so network coverage alone does not explain those omissions.

Competition does not fully explain Atlanta's inclusion either. Five airlines serve New York from the Metroplex, and Chicago, LA and Washington each have four — all including Frontier. Atlanta also has four airlines, with Frontier holding more service there than in any of the others. On top of that, Atlanta is the only market in the new batch served by two airlines from close-by Dallas Love Field: Delta and Southwest. Avelo is nonetheless betting on it, for reasons that the market data alone does not make obvious.

Denver fits the template more cleanly. It anchors ski traffic and short leisure trips, and booking data support the choice. DOT O&D figures via Visual Approach for Q1 2026, covering all DAL/DFW markets above 150 PDEW, show Denver generating a fair share of tickets purchased more than 90 days in advance — the early-booking leisure segment Avelo targets. Atlanta does not appear on that list. Nashville and New Orleans do, and both carry substantial local volume. Phoenix, which also shows heavy advance-purchase behavior, stands out as the notable omission.

The strategic logic is otherwise consistent: Avelo is building McKinney around markets with concentrated leisure demand and thin low-fare competition at the secondary airport itself. Atlanta is the outlier, and it may simply be a test the airline decided was worth running with spare aircraft time.

Avelo, for its part, says the third aircraft at McKinney was always the plan rather than a reaction to early demand signals. That claim will face its first real test in November, when the inaugural departure finally leaves the gate — and the December schedule will show whether the carrier fills those idle hours with additional cities or lets the third 737 sit.