Vision Airlines (Atlanta) has now made it official on some of the changes we previously reported for the upcoming winter season. Yesterday Vision Airlines published its winter schedule and announced a shift in the fall flight schedule. Vision Airlines will continue to serve the Destin/Ft. Walton Beach area, but only with flights from Atlanta, Louisville, Tunica (Memphis), Sanford (Orlando), and St. Petersburg/Tampa/Clearwater through the fall and winter schedule.
Little Rock will continue to have service to Destin/Ft. Walton Beach only until November 2.
Vision will add routes to its winter schedule with new flights from Louisville to Punta Gorda (near Ft Myers) and Sanford, Little Rock to Sanford and St. Louis to Punta Gorda.
These changes will take place as early as August 19. As previously reported, the company will discontinue service to Lafayette, Shreveport, Chattanooga, Asheville and Knoxville. We can assume these routes were not meeting their expectations.
According to the airline, “We expect to have a robust schedule of flights to Northwest Florida Regional Airport resume again on April 1, 2012. We are pleased to continue to grow our business in Florida by offering additional flights from Louisville and St Louis. Nonstop flights to popular winter destinations such as Sanford, Ft Lauderdale and Punta Gorda have been among the most requested routes from these airports”.
Unfortunately for the airline, Destin/Fort Walton Beach is in the northern Florida Panhandle and is generally only a summer vacation destination. To keep going year-round, the company will be forced each year to shift its routes to central and southern Florida and the Bahamas/Caribbean destinations to retain a viable winter-time route system. This becomes a costly strategy for the airline. Will it work in the long-run?
Copyright Photo: Ken Petersen. Please click on the photo for the aircraft information.
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