New Low-Cost Airline Born From Charter Business

The latest charter company to attempt to make the switch to scheduled air service as a low-cost airline reports that it sold 12,000 tickets in about 120 hours for flights which are planned to begin on March 25th. The traffic to their website reportedly crashed their servers due to potential passengers trying to get an introductory $49 fare to Florida.

Vision Airlines is in the process of becoming a scheduled air carrier with service to 23 cities mostly in Florida and the south. The airline will have the new Northwest Florida Regional Airport near Destin/Fort Walton Beach as its hub for destinations in Florida. The airline, which has been in the charter business for 16 years, put together a business plan focused on offering flights departing from southern U.S. cities that it says lack low-cost, direct jet service to destinations in Florida. They say that people in these cities mostly fly in regional jets, endure long layovers while connecting through other cities, and pay high airfares.

Vision Airlines now offers Boeing 737 jet flights on direct routes that other airlines do not fly.

"Essentially, Vision Airlines has no competition," says well-known aviation industry analyst Michael Boyd. "Therefore, Vision Airlines is likely to be very successful."

Working with Florida Governor Richard Scott and local officials in Northwest Florida, Vision Airlines says it hopes to play a pivotal role in the revitalization of the state's gulf coast tourism economy, which was destroyed by last year's BP oil spill. Destin/Fort Walton Beach, also known as Florida's Emerald Coast, is the most-effected area.

"It wasn't pollution that destroyed our tourism economy, it was the wave of negative publicity," says Northwest Florida Regional Airport Director Gregg Donovan. "Unlike neighboring gulf coast states to the west of us, there were no tar balls on our beaches, no oil slicks in the water and no petroleum-scented sea breezes. Yet, the tourists stayed away."

Mark Bellinger, Director of Okaloosa County's Tourism Development Council, says, "We forecast that Vision Airlines will deliver thousands of passengers to the Emerald Coast each week. That means tourists will be able to see first hand that our beaches are still sugary-white and the Gulf waters are still emerald green. Because airfares to our area have been so expensive, most tourists drive here for long vacations. Now they can afford to fly here -- even for weekend getaways."

According to Governor Scott, Vision Airlines' passenger traffic will create upward of 4,000 jobs in related industries.

FMI: www.visionairlines.com