Pocono News Section

New Airline Takes Over Myrtle Beach-bound Flights

New Airline Takes Over Myrtle Beach-bound Flights - Friday, May 30, 2008 at 5:44PM EST

Reported by: Jeff Chirico
Friday, May 30, 2008 @ 05:44pm EST
AVOCA, LUZERNE COUNTY --An airline set to begin flying thousands of local passengers to Myrtle Beach will not get off the ground in Avoca. But if you have tickets on Southern Skyways there's good news for you. Another airline is taking over for Southern Skyways. So that means passengers who bought tickets can still get there.

We told you Wednesday that Southern grounded service in other cities because of high fuel costs. Locally, the first two weeks of flights were canceled. The airline blamed mandatory inspections. That left Dawn Kolbecki and her family with no other choice but to drive to Myrtle Beach. It also left some concerned that southern may cancel the rest of it's flights from Avoca too. We were told more than 1200 people had booked flights.

Today WBRE News has learned a company called Myrtle Beach Direct Air will take over the scheduled service for Southern Skyways beginning June 7th and continuing every Wednesday and Saturday through most of August. Southern passengers with tickets will be accommodated on this new service that uses a Jet Blue plane. Company officials tell WBRE News they've been in operation for over a year and fly to seven other cities.

If you want to schedule flights you can now do so by calling 1-877-432-DIRECT or online at Southern Skyways and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport have not returned my calls.