Elite Airways will discontinue its non-stop service connecting Vero Beach to White Plains, N.Y., and Portland, Me., after the Labor Day weekend, but says it plans to resume those flights “near the end of the spring,” the company’s president said last week.
Elite president and Chief Executive Officer John Pearsall said the airline also will temporarily offer limited service along those routes during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
“The service to and from White Plains and Portland was seasonal, anyway,” Pearsall said, adding that customer demand for those flights “depends on the time of year” and “isn’t as strong in the fall, for sure.”
According to Elite’s website, seasonal service connecting Vero Beach and Portland ends Sept. 2, one day before the last regularly scheduled flights between Vero Beach and White Plains.
Pearsall said the airline will announce the dates and schedule for its holiday season flights later.
Elite currently offers flights to and from Portland on Sundays and Thursdays. The airline offers flights to and from White Plains on Mondays and Fridays.
Elite’s seasonal service between Vero Beach and Asheville, N.C., will continue into early November.
The Asheville flights will be discontinued through the winter months and also are expected to resume in the spring.
The Vero-Asheville service is offered on Sundays and Thursdays, with scheduled departures from Vero Beach at 3 p.m. and from Asheville at 5:15 p.m.
Pearsall said no changes are planned for Elite’s year-round service between Vero Beach and Newark, N.J., the airline’s most popular route with flights offered on Thursdays, Fridays, Sundays and Mondays.
“We love the Vero Beach market,” Pearsall said.