U.S. carrier Avelo Airlines has revealed plans to make to San Juan, Puerto Rico, its first Caribbean destination with flights from its Tweed-New Haven Airport (HVN) base in Connecticut.

Operations to San Juan Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (SJU) are scheduled to start on Nov. 15 utilizing Boeing 737 aircraft. The airline intends to offer two roundtrips per week on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Avelo Chairman and CEO Andrew Levy says the route is expected to have strong leisure flows, as well as appealing to “a large and increasing number of Puerto Ricans” living in Connecticut. San Juan will become the airline’s first destination outside the continental U.S.

Connecticut has one of the highest concentrations of Puerto Ricans of any U.S. state by percentage, with a population of more than 300,000. It is estimated that Puerto Ricans accounted for about 8.5% of the state’s overall population in 2019.

“This new route is a major milestone for Avelo, but also a big win for Connecticut’s sizeable Puerto Rican population who now have another affordable and convenient way to travel home to see friends and family,” U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) says.

According to data provided by OAG Schedules Analyser, Avelo’s new route will be the sole connection between HVN and Puerto Rico. However, Connecticut and Puerto Rico are linked nonstop by JetBlue Airways, Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines. The three serve SJU from Hartford Bradley International Airport, flying 2X-daily, 7X-weekly and 3X-weekly, respectively.

Overall O&D traffic between Connecticut and Puerto Rico totaled about 220,000 two-way passengers in 2019, Sabre Market Intelligence data shows, compared with 190,000 in 2019 before the pandemic.

At present, Avelo serves 17 destinations from HVN, offering more than 11,600 departure seats. The carrier opened the base in November 2021.