Elite Airways announced today it is adding a new destination to its Thursday and Sunday flights to Newark, New Jersey. Starting in June, Elite’s Bombardier jets will drop off passengers in Newark and then continue on to Bar Harbor, Maine, once an elite summer colony for East Coast high society and still a popular “down east” seaside resort.
Also today, Elite announced new flights between Melbourne International Airport and Islip, Long Island, New York. Those flights, also slated to begin in June, will be on Fridays and Sundays.
In December, Elite became the first commercial carrier in 20 years to offer passenger service from the Vero Beach airport. The airline was so encouraged by the early response to its nonstop service between here and Newark – many flights were sold out – that it temporarily added Fridays and Mondays to it schedule, but only through April 1.
City Airport Director Eric Menger said the additional flights did “very well” and that the Elite jets that flew between Vero Beach and Newark operated at 97 percent of capacity throughout the month of March.
“We expected to get a lot of vacation travelers, but we’ve noticed we’re getting more business-type passengers than we anticipated,” Menger said. “The service has been excellent and people seem to like it.”
Elite Airways Vice President David Dow agreed, “We’re very happy with the bookings, which have been beyond our expectations.”
Elite began nonstop service between Vero Beach and Naples in late February, but Menger said the flights rarely attract more than “four or five passengers.”
According to Dow, the small numbers are the result of the success of Elite’s service connecting Vero Beach and Newark. Vero Beach is a stopover on the airline’s Thursday and Sunday flights between Naples and Newark.
“The bookings out of Vero Beach have been so good,” Dow said, “that travelers in Naples can’t book the flights through Vero Beach.”
