Site Admin

Joined: 17 Jun 2005
Posts: 949
Location: Carmel, IN

from this week's IBJ...

More flights to begin between
Indianapolis and Florida

Fly Mission Air, a Hawaiian public charter plane operator, is starting non-stop flights between Indianapolis International Airport and St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport. The flights will take off five days a week beginning Nov. 3. In August, AirTran Airways, a subsidiary of Atlanta-based AirTran Holdings Inc., said it would expand service from Indianapolis to the Sunshine State cities of Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Sarasota/Braderton and Fort Meyers later this year.

Member

Joined: 15 May 2006
Posts: 728
Location: West Lafayette, IN

Very interesting. Is this a start-up carrier? I can't seem to find much about this company. I'm guessing 737-200's will be used because that is what I see from their website. I'm curious to see how they will do.

Site Admin

Joined: 17 Jun 2005
Posts: 949
Location: Carmel, IN

It's a public charter operator, much like the old Morris Air that used to fly out west, or Hooters Air now. As a public charter operator, they have scheduled flights but don't have a permit to operate aircraft. If you read their T&C's, it says the flights will be operated by Sky King, Inc., Ryan International Airways, Pace Airlines, Ameristar, Champion Airlines, and Miami Air. Public charters sometimes seem like normal airlines, in that they have schedules and you buy tickets, but a lot of different rules apply. Most notably, if your flight is cancelled for any reason, they don't owe you anything other than the money you paid for your ticket - they don't have to put you on the next flight, they don't have to put offer you compensation for denied boarding, etc. Anyway, it's a different kind of operation, but it's nice to have some additional competition nonetheless.

What I'm wondering is how much demand there really is IND to PIE?

Member

Joined: 27 Jun 2005
Posts: 333
Location: St. Louis, MO

I find it interesting, to say the least, and I'm half tempted to book a ticket on it just for the hell of it. I hope they make a go of it and best of luck to them.

Interesting schedules...for they will only fly Thursday - Mondays, with the aircraft sitting idle a great deal of time on Mondays and then sitting idle in Indianapolis on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Site Admin

Joined: 17 Jun 2005
Posts: 949
Location: Carmel, IN

Again, these aren't their own aircraft. Fly Mission only organizes the public charters. So it could be one company's a/c for Thursday's flight and another company's for Friday's, and so on. I doubt the aircraft themselves will actually be sitting idle for that long. Also, these charter companies (the ones that Fly Mission Air will contract with to carry pax to PIE) tend to use much older, used aircraft that have been refitted and cleaned up. This keeps their capital costs and depreciation expense low, which is essential precisely because they get much lower in-use time per a/c. Balancing that, however, the charter organizers that use these charter airlines usually have some kind of minimum revenue guarantee, flat price, or other arrangement that guarantees the airline that they'll have their operating expenses covered, plus a profit margin. Frankly, it's just like hiring a fishing boat in the Gulf or renting a limousine for the day.

Member

Joined: 15 May 2006
Posts: 728
Location: West Lafayette, IN

Maybe we'll see some 727's, that would be nice.

Member

Joined: 14 Jun 2006
Posts: 142
Location: IND

stlgph wrote:

I find it interesting, to say the least, and I'm half tempted to book a ticket on it just for the hell of it.

Book with a credit card. I have seen a lot of these operators go out of business overnight and screw a lot of people!