Elite Airways lands inaugural flight at SRQ Airport

Passengers stepping off of the inaugural Elite Airways flight at Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport on Thursday were on cloud nine.

As the 70 Sarasota-bound travelers deplaned the jet coming from Portland, Maine, they were greeted with swag bags, cake and welcoming words from local officials, including SRQ President and CEO Fredrick “Rick” Piccolo, and Elite Airways President and Chair John Pearsall.

“The nonstop service is so popular as you know with so many travelers,” Pearsall said. “And for us to bring it to Sarasota is a tremendous coup for us.”

Pearsall commended Piccolo and his staff, particularly Vice President of Special Projects and Development Mark Stuckey, for their role in landing the service. Pearsall hopes to announce more services in Sarasota within the next month.

Outbound passenger Susan Singer, 67, now a full-time Sarasota resident, was headed to Portland for the weekend.

“We always had to do so many stops to get there,” Singer said. “There was always at least one. It used to be 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. sometimes and now it’s three hours.”

Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport provides incentive packages to new carriers to help them establish a base for long-term success, Piccolo said.

The incentive packages provided for new airlines are all the same. Per a resolution previously passed by the Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority, airport executives are not permitted to customize incentive packages for different carriers. New carriers get a two-year pass on landing fees and terminal fees. They’re allowed use of SRQ’s common use technology at gates, preventing additional information technology expenses for the carrier.

SRQ provides between $100,000 and $125,000 in marketing in the service’s first year. The airport provides marketing dollars in tapered amounts for the following two years.

“It’s a higher five-figure (amount) in the second year and a lower five-figure amount in the third year,” Stuckey said. “The CVBs can offer marketing dollars beyond three years, but the airport cannot.”

SRQ also advertises the Portland service to the approximately 70,000 emails collected from the airport’s Wi-Fi use.

The Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and Visit Sarasota County kick in marketing dollars to encourage visitors from Portland, Maine, to take the Elite Airways flight for a vacation in the Manatee-Sarasota area. The tourism bureaus are limited to advertising for airlines only in markets outside of Manatee-Sarasota.

“Without the CVBs I think it would be really difficult to attract the carriers we get,” Stuckey said. “For carriers like Elite, marketing dollars are so much more important than one like Delta or United because they have the name recognition.”

Pearsall called Sarasota fare sales “phenomenal” so far.

“We have to say that out of our whole route structure, that Sarasota has been one of the top-selling destinations from Portland,” Pearsall said. “It just bodes well for the whole area. We absolutely see that growing here in Sarasota is the way to go.”

This story was originally published November 17, 2016 at 5:04 PM with the headline "Elite Airways lands inaugural flight at SRQ Airport."