When McKinney National Airport opens on Nov. 11, the thing that shapes a trip from DTX will be the calendar. Avelo Airlines flies each route on set days of the week, never on Tuesdays, and the schedule leans hard toward Thursday departures and Sunday or Monday returns. The question to ask is which day you need to leave, because the drive from McKinney is short for every trip.
The terminal opens on a Wednesday, and Tuesday never shows up
The City of McKinney confirmed in a Sept. 24, 2026 news release that the passenger terminal is on schedule to open on Veterans Day, Wednesday, Nov. 11. The same release says Avelo will base three 184-seat Boeing 737-800 jets at DTX and will operate "Wednesdays through Mondays." The first flight is to Fort Myers on opening day. Las Vegas and Orlando follow on Nov. 12, and Tampa and Fort Lauderdale on Nov. 19.
There are three aircraft and 11 destinations by mid-December, so no route flies every day. Here is the full published weekly pattern, combining Avelo's June 30 launch announcement, the city's September release, and Avelo's Oct. 15 expansion.
| Route from DTX | First flight | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Myers, RSW | Nov. 11 | ✓ | ✓ | |||||
| Las Vegas, LAS | Nov. 12 | ✓ | holiday | ✓ | ✓ | holiday | ✓ | |
| Orlando, MCO | Nov. 12 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Tampa, TPA | Nov. 19 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| Fort Lauderdale, FLL | Nov. 19 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Atlanta, ATL | Dec. 16 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| Denver, DEN | Dec. 16 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| Sarasota/Bradenton, SRQ | Dec. 16 | ✓ | ✓ | |||||
| Nashville, BNA | Dec. 17 | ✓ | ✓ | |||||
| New Orleans, MSY | Dec. 17 | ✓ | ✓ | |||||
| West Palm Beach, DJT | Dec. 17 | ✓ | ✓ |
The Wednesday and Saturday Las Vegas flights were added on Oct. 15 "for the peak holiday travel season," which brings that route to six flights a week. Avelo hasn't said when the extra days end.
Read down the columns and the shape is clear. Seven of the 11 routes fly on Thursday and seven fly on Sunday. Six fly on Monday. Wednesday has four routes, five during the Las Vegas holiday stretch. Tuesday has none.
Paired days set the length of your trip
Since each route repeats the same days every week, the pairing decides how long you can stay. Booking a DTX trip means choosing a trip length first and a destination second.
- Las Vegas, Orlando, Tampa and Fort Lauderdale all fly Monday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. That covers the classic long weekend, out Thursday or Friday and back Sunday or Monday, which is the most flexible setup at the airport.
- Nashville, New Orleans and West Palm Beach fly only Thursday and Sunday. Your choices are a three-night stay from Thursday to Sunday, a four-night stay from Sunday to Thursday, or whole weeks added on top of either.
- Fort Myers and Sarasota/Bradenton fly only Wednesday and Saturday, which works out to three or four nights, or full weeks.
- Atlanta and Denver fly Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. That gives the most midweek options of any route, which suits a work trip that doesn't follow the Thursday-to-Sunday rhythm.
The network is mostly Florida plus Las Vegas, and the Thursday and Sunday clustering points to a leisure airport built for long weekends. Avelo CEO Andrew Levy described the appeal to Community Impact in terms of ease, not reach: "It's faster, it's easier and it's just simply better in terms of when you're on the ground to get on the plane to go to wherever it is you want to go."
Thanksgiving week, read one day at a time
Thanksgiving falls on Thursday, Nov. 26, just two weeks after opening day and one week after Tampa and Fort Lauderdale begin service. Laid over that week, the published weekly pattern looks like this:
- Monday, Nov. 23. Las Vegas, Orlando, Tampa and Fort Lauderdale all have their Monday departures. This is the earliest full-week getaway.
- Tuesday, Nov. 24. No flights.
- Wednesday, Nov. 25. The usual biggest travel day of the year has only Fort Myers, plus Las Vegas if the holiday Wednesday flight is running that week.
- Thursday, Nov. 26. Thanksgiving Day itself carries the Thursday pattern for Las Vegas, Orlando, Tampa and Fort Lauderdale.
- Friday, Nov. 27, through Sunday, Nov. 29. Return options cluster here. Orlando and Fort Lauderdale fly Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Tampa and Las Vegas fly Friday and Sunday. Fort Myers comes back on Saturday.
Anyone used to leaving the Wednesday before Thanksgiving will find that day nearly empty at DTX. For most of these destinations, the realistic choice is leaving Monday and staying the full week, or flying out on Thanksgiving morning. Holiday schedules can differ from the standard weekly pattern, so check your exact date on AveloAir.com before you build plans around it.
December's second wave lands the week before Christmas
Avelo's December routes start in a two-day burst. Atlanta, Denver and Sarasota/Bradenton begin Wednesday, Dec. 16, and Nashville, New Orleans and West Palm Beach begin Thursday, Dec. 17. That gives DTX 11 routes just over a week before Christmas Day, which falls on a Friday this year.
Christmas Eve is a Thursday, which ties with Sunday as the airport's busiest day of the week by route count. The Thursday-and-Sunday routes to Nashville, New Orleans and West Palm Beach line up with a Christmas Eve departure and a Sunday, Dec. 27 return. Tuesday, Dec. 22, has no flights, just like every other Tuesday. That's the one day to rule out when you plan holiday visits with relatives in either direction.
McKinney's director of aviation, Ken Carley, said in the city's release that the community appreciates "how easy it will be to travel from their hometown airport during the upcoming holidays and beyond." The easy part depends on matching your plans to those weekdays.
What's waiting at the terminal on FM 546
The terminal sits on the east side of the airport, and the 980-space public parking lot has its own access road off FM 546, according to the McKinney National Airport site. Avelo's booking pages list the airport's address as 1508 Industrial Blvd. Follow the terminal signage from FM 546 rather than the general airport address.
The basics, as reported so far:
- Parking costs $15 a day, paid through a contactless system, Carley told Community Impact on Sept. 24. A Thursday-to-Sunday trip to Nashville comes to about $45 to $60 in parking, depending on how the days are counted.
- The building is a $79 million terminal with four gates and room for a fifth and sixth, on track to open roughly 18 months after groundbreaking. The airport describes it as 46,000 square feet with open hold rooms and centralized food and beverage service.
- Rental cars come from Enterprise, which the City Council approved in October. Counters are near the terminal entrances, with 24 parking spaces set aside, Community Impact reported.
- Food and drinks will be run by Creative Hospitality Solutions under a lease the council approved on Oct. 5. The city's agenda item describes coffee, bakery items, sandwiches, salads, hot grab-and-go food, a self-service market, a "McKinney Made" shelf and possibly beer and wine.
- Art includes two murals by Texas-based artists, one at the curbside area and one in baggage claim.
- Arrival time is at least 90 minutes before departure, per Avelo.
The airport hasn't yet posted rideshare pickup details or whether TSA PreCheck lanes will be open on day one, so check FlyDTX.com before your first trip. Introductory one-way fares start at $69, according to Avelo's Oct. 15 announcement. When booking, look for the code DTX on airline sites, boarding passes and bag tags.
A hometown terminal on FM 546 changes how McKinney plans its weekends, and the team at The DiBella Team keeps track of local milestones like this one because they shape daily life in the communities we serve. If you have questions about McKinney or Collin County, we're always happy to talk. Your Path to Buying or Selling Starts Here.
