One (if not the) fastest-growing airlines in the country is flying just below the radar, catering largely to customers bound for the beaches of northwest Florida.
Discount airline Vision is focusing on funneling flyers to the Florida Panhandle, to the exquisite Emerald Coast. In the wake of the BP oil spill, the beaches on these reaches of Florida are still sugar-sand white, still among the best anywhere.
Ten minutes away from those beaches is Northwest Florida Regional Airport. Problem is, Airport Director Greg Donovan says, “Only three percent of tourists fly to Destin/Ft. Walton Beach. The remainder has been forced to drive hundreds of miles to get here.”
Vision is helping change the equation with nonstop flights to an array of cities, places that haven’t had direct service to the region. Up until recently, air access to Northwest Florida Regional Airport has been via Delta Connection from Atlanta, US Airways Express from Charlotte, American Eagle from Dallas/Fort Worth, Continental Express form Houston, and Delta Connection from Memphis.
On March 25, Vision Airlines adds to it’s already robust Emerald Coast schedule with flights from Atlanta, Baton Rouge, Birmingham, Greenville/Spartanburg, Huntsville, Knoxville, Little Rock, Louisville, Macon and Savannah.
Story by Jerry Chandler
