It is now much easier to travel by air between New Brunswick and Florida.
Flair Airlines launches its new direct route between Saint John and the Orlando Sanford International Airport on Tuesday.
Eric Tanner, the vice-president of revenue management and network planning, said they are encouraged by the uptick they have seen so far.
“I think there’s been no flight that’s sort of booked better in the first week that we were out for sale,” Tanner said in an interview.
The Saint John-to-Orlando route was one of 13 new sun destination routes announced by the ultra-low-cost carrier in August.
It is also the first sunshine destination flight out of the Saint John Airport in at least several years.
“New Brunswick generally has been underserved by the existing airline offerings for far too long, particularly in the winter time, where a lot of the seasonal service dries up and there really aren’t that many options to warm weather,” said Tanner.
The winter rotation will fly once a week on Tuesdays from now until April 30, according to the airline’s website.
Tanner said they have a number of mitigation measures in place to reduce potential impacts caused by winter weather.
“One of the most important things is that the aircraft is starting its day in Orlando, so rather than having to deal with a morning de-icing in Toronto or some other place that you can know can set the line of flying back by multiple hours with delays, you’re starting in sunny Orlando,” he said.
“If we can land an aircraft in Saint John and turn the aircraft around in 45 minutes, we’ll be flying.”
Flair is also now officially a large airline, the vice-president said, which means it has obligations to get its customers to their destinations.
