Alabama airports will soon add direct flights to Florida

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Two Alabama airports will soon have more connections to Florida.

The Montgomery Advertiser reported Via Airlines will start flying from Montgomery Regional Airport to Orlando Sanford International Airport beginning May 14.

Round-trip flights already were listed on travel sites Wednesday for about $200.

Maitland, Fla.based Via Airlines also announced the same service at the same price from Mobile Regional Airport to Orlando-Sanford, also beginning in May.

From Montgomery, there will be four flights a week, arriving Sunday, Monday, Thursday and Friday at about 3:45 p.m., leaving Montgomery about an hour later and arriving in Orlando at about 6:30 p.m., the newspaper reported.

“Those times are almost ideal, perfect, for the vacation traveler,” said Don Bowman, director of planning and business development for Via Airlines.

The flights will use Brazil-built Embraer 145 jets that seat 50 passengers in a single class. There are no middle seats.

“We know that there are passengers that are going to Atlanta or to Birmingham now to catch a flight south, and we believe with the right service, with the rightsized airplane, we can capture that traffic from what we call leaking to the other communities,” Bowman said.

Via Airlines was founded in 1997. It operates a fleet of 50-seat Embraer ERJ-145s and 30-seat EMB-120 providing its guests with cost-effective, convenient and comfortable travel.

Birmingham recently unveiled its own direct flights to Orlando. Those flights start in April.