Why Should Delaware Care?
After Avelo Airlines announced it would end its contract to provide deportation flights, tensions eased between Delaware activists and Wilmington airport officials. Now they could resurface after airport officials said they are considering leasing space to another aviation company linked with ICE.
The government authority that oversees the Wilmington Airport may lease space at the Delaware facility to a little-known company, called Daedalus Aviation Corp., that recently struck a contract to sell planes to federal immigration officials for deportation flights.
Daedalus’s sister company also has a $1 billion contract with the U.S Department of Homeland Security “to support voluntary self-deportation,” according to the report published last month by the Washington Post.
Asked about the potential lease following a public meeting last week, officials from the Delaware River and Bay Authority, which manages the Wilmington airport, said they will consider a resolution next month to approve a rental agreement with Daedalus.
They also said they must provide fair access to all prospective tenants or else they could lose federal dollars.
The Federal Aviation Administration regularly distributes millions of dollars to the Wilmington Airport, largely for capital projects.
In an additional statement to Spotlight Delaware, DRBA spokesman James Salmon said the authority would be in violation of obligations attached to grant awards that could “put not only the potential for future funding in peril, but also could result in a claw-back effort of resources already provided.”
When asked whether its potential lease of airport space is in any way related to deportation flights, Salmon initially said that he did not know. Later, he said the DRBA’s executive director had stated that “Daedalus Aviation plans to lease a vacant hangar for the purpose of housing their aircraft that they’re using for VIP flights.”
Daedalus officials did not respond to requests to comment for this story
The news comes about three weeks after Avelo Airlines, Delaware’s only commercial airline, announced that it would officially end its controversial contract to provide deportation flights for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and its sub-agency, the U.S. Immigration and Customs and Enforcement.
Coincidentally, four Boeing Co. 737-700 that Avelo has previously used are also reportedly involved in Daedelus’s recently signed $140-million sale of aircraft to ICE, according to a report from Bloomberg last week.
Images of those planes on flight tracking websites show them still painted with Avelo colors and its logo.
“DHS has acquired aircraft through a third party, and those aircraft are now in DHS possession and will support multi-use missions, including removals of criminal illegal aliens,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to Bloomberg.
A ‘moral choice’?
Avelo’s recent decision to move away from operating deportation flights had eased tensions between public officials and activists who spent recent months urging the Delaware River and Bay Authority to cut ties with the airline over its dealings with ICE.
Now, with a new company with ties to ICE potentially headed to Wilmington, the controversy may reemerge.
Several of the Delaware activists who had organized protests against Avelo last year attended the DRBA’s public meeting last week to urge authority officials to not enter into any contracts with companies that deal with ICE.
“Today I’m here to ask you to make a moral choice. Don’t contract with Daedalus, Key Lime Air, Avelo, or any other carrier that’s complicit with the human rights violations in the current administration’s deportation program,” Dover resident Jeff Melinda said at the Jan. 21 meeting.
The public was first alerted to a potential DRBA contract with Daedalus in December when a resolution to approve the contract with the company appeared on the agenda for a public meeting.
The agenda noted a resolution related to a “lease agreement with Daedalus Aviation Corporation at the New Castle Airport.” During the meeting, DRBA commissioners ultimately tabled the resolution, according to meeting minutes.
Later, DRBA Executive Director Joel Coppadge told Spotlight Delaware that the resolution was tabled so it could be reviewed by New Jersey’s incoming governor, Mikie Sherrill, who was sworn into office last week.
Sherill’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
Coppadge confirmed that Gov. Matt Meyer’s office already reviewed the resolution.
Asked if Meyer approved the lease agreement with Daedalus, a spokesperson for the governor said in an email, “No comment at this time.”
Last year, Meyer publicly supported efforts to boycott Avelo for their dealings with ICE, telling Spotlight Delaware that he and his family wouldn’t be buying Avelo tickets anytime soon.
The DRBA is a bi-state agency created by Delaware and New Jersey to operate and maintain the region’s bridges, ferries, and airports. Its governing board is appointed by the governors of each state.
Coppadge said the DRBA resolution to approve the Daedalus lease will be brought back during a February meeting of its commissioners.
What is Daedalus?
According to its website, Daedalus Aviation Corporation provides commercial and charter flight services, including supplying aircraft and crews for domestic and international travel.
The Virginia State Corporation Commission reports that the company was formed in February 2024.
William Allen Walters III is listed as president, and Taundria Cappel is listed as treasurer and chief financial officer.
Walters previously served as the deputy chief medical officer for operations at the U.S. Department of State during Trump’s first term, according to his LinkedIn.
Before that, he was the managing director of operational medicine for the U.S. Department of State from 2011 to 2019.
Cappel was a program analyst for the U.S. Department of State from 2020 to 2021, according to her LinkedIn.
Both Walters and Cappel are also listed in leadership positions for a company called Salus World Solutions, which was awarded a nearly $1 billion, three-year contract early last year to fly deportation flights.
That contract is currently being challenged in court by a competing company, which called the deal “unlawful, rushed, and noncompetitive.”