GREEN, Ohio — The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation flights that have operated almost daily at Akron-Canton Airport in recent months are coming to an end, after the private contractor that handles the flights on the ground told the flight operator it will stop providing ground-handling services at the airport effective November 30, 2026, according to Signal Akron.
“Akron-Canton Airport (CAK) has been made aware that Avflight has notified the ICE flight operator, AEG Fuels, of its decision to discontinue providing ground-handling services at CAK effective November 30, 2026. ICE flights will cease from CAK beyond that date,” airport Vice President Lisa Dalpiaz said in an email to Signal Akron.
For nearly six months, prison buses have arrived almost daily at the Avflight hangars on West Airport Drive to transfer ICE detainees to Eastern Air Express, Air Wisconsin and Global X jets usually headed to Alexandria, Louisiana, a major immigration detention hub, Signal Akron reported. The flights have routinely drawn protesters carrying signs reading “ICE out” and “Stop ICE flights.”
The operation arrived at Akron-Canton at the end of April, when Youngstown Warren Regional Airport closed a portion of its longest runway and tarmac for repairs, according to Signal Akron. The flights were expected to return to Youngstown when the work finished in August, but they stayed — moving back to Youngstown only briefly after a September 29 collision between two Eastern Air Express planes outside the Avflight facility sidelined both jets for inspection and repairs.
Neither Avflight, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, nor AEG Fuels, the Miami-based contractor that manages the ICE flights, responded to questions from Signal Akron. The Western Reserve Port Authority, which manages the Youngstown Warren airport, told Signal Akron it was not aware of the Akron-Canton development and referred questions to its own private operator, JetsFBO, which also did not respond.
The change also closes the book on a fee dispute: airport officials learned the landing-fee bills sent to the three charter companies — more than $46,000 accumulated through September — will not be paid, because a Federal Aviation Administration memo released in early 2026 said private contractors working for the government are not required to pay landing fees, Signal Akron reported. Airport officials said the loss is insignificant.
Where the flights go after November 30 has not been announced. Airport officials told Signal Akron they had no intention of trying to convince the deportation contractors to stay, saying the operation did not fit the airport’s long-term business model.
Photo: Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0