Akron-Canton Airport to end ICE flight ground handling Nov. 30

Prison buses and deportation flights will stop arriving at Akron-Canton Airport after Nov. 30, when the company that handles ground operations for those flights ends its work there. The airport said in an email Wednesday that Avflight told ICE flight operator AEG Fuels it would discontinue ground-handling services, and that no ICE flights will operate from the airport after that date.

For nearly six months, buses have pulled up to the Avflight hangars on West Airport Drive to move Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees onto jets operated by Eastern Air Express, Air Wisconsin and Global X. Those planes have typically flown to Alexandria, Louisiana, where a large immigration detention facility sits and where deportation flights depart from. Protesters have shown up at the airport with signs reading "ICE out," "Immigrants are welcome here," and "Stop ICE flights."

The flights first appeared at Akron-Canton at the end of April, after Youngstown Warren Regional Airport shut down part of its longest runway and tarmac for repairs. Work there was scheduled to wrap in August, but a Sept. 29 collision between two Eastern Air Express planes outside the Avflight facility at Akron-Canton kept both aircraft out of service for inspection and repairs. Deportation flights moved to Youngstown Warren for two weeks while the two 737s were fixed. On Oct. 12, the day before President Donald Trump was to hold a campaign rally at Youngstown Warren, the aircraft and the daily flights shifted back to Akron-Canton.

Since then, at least 20 Eastern Air Express Boeing 737s and Air Wisconsin CRJ200s have landed at the airport in the city of Green, according to the flight-tracking application FlightAware. Avflight, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, operates hangars on the east side of Akron-Canton that service dozens of private planes a day. The company and AEG Fuels, based in Miami, did not respond to questions.

Akron-Canton officials said the airport has billed the three charter companies for landing fees but has been told those bills will not be paid. The airport had accumulated more than $46,000 in landing fees through September. A Federal Aviation Administration memo released in early 2026 said contractors working for the government are not required to pay landing fees. Airport officials called the loss insignificant.

The Akron-Canton Regional Airport Authority said that as a public agency partly funded by the federal government, it cannot block legal business activity that serves the airport's purposes. Officials also said they have no plan to ask deportation contractors to remain, because that work does not fit the airport's long-term business model. The Western Reserve Port Authority, which runs the Youngstown Warren airport, said it was not aware of the Akron-Canton plans and referred questions to JetsFBO, a private contractor there. JetsFBO did not respond to questions.

The Akron-Canton Regional Airport Authority has not responded to questions about whether any other operator could take over the ground handling after Nov. 30.