Braniff DC8

It seems Elite is constantly changing their minds wich leads to a lot of confusion. The model will scare people away as it's risky buying tickets on Elite or a Via Air. The aircraft choice is odd as well as people then think they're flying on a regional with no connections and to odd cities.

I went to the Islip site and could not find any Elite flights. Not sure if they are daily or not?

FloridaLarry

Elite's scheduled service business model is primarily designed for leisure travelers, not business people. As such, they only fly routes on certain days, figuring that vacationers will follow them, not expect the reverse. If those fill up consistently, they'll eventually expand by adding other days.

Islip - Florida service operates on Mondays and Fridays, into/out of gate B-17. Their ticket counter is at the right hand end of the ticket counters, beside Southwest.

Islip - Newport News service starts March 13th, M-W-F.

Elite is first a charter operator, as is Via and a few others. Their scheduled service keeps the planes & flight crews flying more hours, and will build & be profitable or they'll drop it. They buy used aircraft, but right from a D-check major rebuild. Their 700s came from Lufthansa CityLine, I believe their smaller Bombardiers came from Iberia Regional. Via's jets came from Trans States, are older and seem to show their age. The aircraft size is matched to the their charter needs, scheduled needs, and checkbook size. It's a niche.

I wouldn't buy tickets any other way than a credit card. If they stop that service, your money is safe.

Braniff DC8

All good point. Thanks.

80emb145

Why are you on every airlines topic constantly stirring the pot? Do you have any real interest in any of these airlines?

Braniff DC8

Yes, lots of interest(s).

FloridaLarry

Elite, and the other Charters dipping their toes into the scheduled world, are a very interesting phenomenon.

Elite in particular, along with other reasons, geographically brackets my Florida retirement home. Haven't needed to fly them yet, but will gladly when need arises. Friends who have, report a good experience.

Braniff DC8

More ISP so good news it looks like. I guess I am wrong about Elite, my bad.

FloridaLarry

Elite is deferring the start of their Newport News VA service. The nonstop jet service to New York City/Newark (EWR) and Long Island MacArthur Airport (ISP) was scheduled to begin on March 13th.

The announcement says "...due to the challenging perceptions surrounding the Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport." The local paper says, "Elite did so because it was concerned about perceptions of the airport in the wake of Daily Press reports that a(n airport) commission loan guarantee to another airline two and a half years ago had prompted state Secretary of Transportation Aubrey Layne to yank the airport's state funds." Sounds like a political move. Newport News is served by Delta and American RJs.

In other news, Elite has announced that their seasonal service to Bar Harbor, Maine, won't resume this year. Insufficient traffic. Bar Harbor is served by Cape Air, and (seasonally) by PenAir.

FloridaLarry

Further research shows that the Newport News airport board had used state funds appropriated to them to repay a $3.5M loan it had made to the 2014 start-up PeopleExpress (II). That start-up flew for less than 3 months before collapsing in bankruptcy. Differing interpretations of the laws governing airport appropriations in Virginia, and open-meeting & open-records statutes are at the root of the disagreements. It's now a political football.

Elite is choosing not to be in the middle of the muddle.

Pilotpat824

So looking on here I am curious if any current pilots are on this forum. I am curious of the working conditions there, hard days off? How many 700s vs 200s there are. How easy it is to get the MLB base? Duty times? types of hotels? All the basic stuff. Thank in advance guys!