It’s been awhile since we talked about Vision Airlines here, but there has been plenty going on with the carrier as it desperately searches for a strategy that works. For the most part, it’s been bad news as effort after effort has failed. But now, it’s time to try something new for the airline. Anyone for Myrtle Beach?

Vision’s first plan was flying between Atlanta and Louisville. That didn’t work.

After that was announced, Vision’s big plan was for a hub in Destin, Florida. The airline threw a ton of flights at Destin, hoping that something would stick. None of them did as point-to-point markets so Vision tried allowing people to connect. That didn’t work either. There is nothing on the schedule for this summer to Destin at all. I wonder if the airport is still owed a bunch of money?

Vision also had a brief jaunt into Grand Bahama Island with sponsored flights but those don’t seem to have lasted long. Maybe they’ll come back next winter? (Update: No, they won’t. Thanks to Dan Webb for the link showing that Bahamasair got the contract.)

So, now what? Ever since Direct Air failed in March, there has been “opportunity” in former Direct Air markets. I put that in quotes, because with fuel prices as high as they are, I’m not sure how much opportunity is actually there. But hey, Vision is going to give it the old college try.

The plan, according to the latest posted schedule on the website, is to fly from Myrtle Beach to Cincinnati, Clarksburg (WV), Cleveland, Columbus/Rickenbacker (OH), Indianapolis, Louisville, Nashville, Springfield (IL), and Toledo (OH) from May 31 through October 31. Each market will see two flights per week at various times throughout the day.

So is this one going to work? To the surprise of nobody, I’m skeptical. Direct Air had survived for years flying routes like these, but even it couldn’t keep chugging along. Fuel prices keep going higher, and these are definitely not high fare business travel routes. This is all leisure, and it’s not expensive leisure either. But there is definitely outside money going into this, so Vision might find a way to make it profitable. If so, then someone else will just fund the loss.

While I don’t know if Myrtle Beach is subsidizing this service, it wouldn’t surprise me. The airport director did note in the press release that he was excited to “partner” with Vision. We also do know that subsidies are on the table from other cities. Springfield, for example, will subsidize the flights if they don’t reach a certain passenger number threshold.

Possibly the most telling of all here is the stunning announcement from Rockford that it wouldn’t offer subsidies to Vision so it won’t be getting a Myrtle Beach flight. That is a big deal, since Rockford will subsidize anyone on earth. I mean, this is the airport that’s willing to subsidize flights from Rockford to London and Honolulu, yet it thinks that Myrtle Beach is not “a good destination for us at this time.” Seriously?!

Vision is certainly trying to be opportunistic here by going in and out of markets when it thinks it can make a buck, but it definitely concerns me to see an airline making so many drastic changes in its route system relatively frequently. Travelers start to get wary when there’s no consistency and that can be bad for business. Maybe this one will stick, however, and Vision will have finally found the niche it has been so desperately searching for. The again, maybe not.

[Original photo via Flickr user Camera Eye Photography/CC 2.0]

Delta’s Memphis cuts have once again stirred up a lot of talk about the death of the mid-size hub. It’s effectively conventional wisdom at this point, but apparently someone forgot to tell Vision. Vision has now decided to make little Destin a hub. Uh oh.

I should, however, point out that it’s not actually Destin that’s the hub. When you go the Vision website, it shows Destin/Ft Walton Beach, FL (VPS) as the airport. Now, try typing Destin/Ft Walton Beach airport into Google Maps and it will take you to an airport right near town. The only problem? That’s not the right airport. Those of us who know airport codes can look at VPS and see that it’s actually 20 miles away over a bridge to the Northwest Florida Regional Airport, but I can’t imagine that many travelers know to look at the airport code.

In fact, we have a concierge client now who went to the wrong airport for her flight, then rushed over to the other airport, only to miss it. So if you do actually decide to use this airline, please keep in mind that it’s not the Destin airport. Of course, if you’re using it as a hub, then you don’t care because you’ll never step foot outside the terminal.

So what does it mean that Vision is turning this into a hub? It really just means that the airline is going to start allowing connections. Many of the ultra low cost carriers out there only let you buy point-to-point flights. On Allegiant, for example, you could buy a ticket from Long Beach to Las Vegas and then on to any city in the system, but Allegiant doesn’t allow it. Why? It’s a cost thing. When you start setting up connecting complexes, you need to have the ability to transfer bags. That’s an investment and it will inevitably result in more lost bags. You also have to take responsibility for people when they miss their connections due to late operations, etc. It just adds complexity. And what do you get? For a low cost airline, not much.

So on Allegiant, you can make a connection yourself if you want, but you’ll have to buy two separate tickets and re-check your bags. Vision was that way for the first few weeks of its life, but no more.

Vision’s Chief Operating Officer David Meers touted how many opportunities this opens up:

For example, the Atlanta passenger could only travel to Louisville, Destin or Gulfport prior to this announcement. Now, the Atlanta passenger can travel to 14 different destinations including Ft. Lauderdale, St. Petersburg/Tampa and Las Vegas.

So now instead of taking one of the 11 daily nonstops on AirTran or Delta from Atlanta to Vegas or one of many connecting options on any other airline, Vision wants to jump into that race. The only way it will take passengers is if its fares are so incredibly cheap that some people will be willing to try the airline. If you have empty seats, that’s fine, but its not going to add much to the bottom line.

That’s why Allegiant doesn’t allow connections. It picks routes that have enough local demand so that it can fill its airplanes with desirable local traffic. That’s smart. Vision’s quick decision to allow connections tells me that there simply isn’t enough demand to fill its airplanes and it’s scrambling to fill those seats, even if it is with rock bottom fares. This is not the best sign for the fledgling Destin hub.

Once again, Vision Airlines has extended its fare sale for its new routes from the Florida Panhandle “due to overwhelming response.” I think we all know what that means. At the same time, some routes have been cut before they even began, like Birmingham. Is there hope for this airline?

It looks like Vision Airlines has released its first flight schedules for its “Allegiant-like” Florida operation and there’s some good and some bad in there. If you had to guess one of the Florida airports, I bet it would be the last one you’d ever pick . . . Miami. But according to Vision, there’s good reason for that. I’m not so convinced.

Vision is starting off small with twice weekly flights (Friday and Sunday) that begin in Miami, go up to Northwest Florida Regional Airport on the panhandle and then up to Niagara Falls before coming back down. Flights start December 15, and here’s the schedule:

• Leave Miami 730a Arr Northwest Florida 755a
• Lv Northwest Florida 829a Arr Niagara Falls 1155a
• Lv Niagara Falls 1240p Arr Northwest Florida 206p
• Lv Northwest Florida 236p Arr Miami 5p

Let’s start with the good. I like the Redneck Riviera flying on the Florida panhandle. Take a look at the landscape on the panhandle.

There isn’t much low cost service in that area yet, and it’s more likely to shrink in the near future than grow if Southwest chooses to leave Pensacola after acquiring AirTran. There are too many freakin’ airports in this area and the naming conventions drive me insane, so stick with me here. When Southwest went into the Northwest Florida Beaches airport (on the right), it had restrictions on being able to fly to other nearby airports. If it wants to fly to Pensacola, there will be a penalty, so I bet we see that AirTran service go away. That would leave Southwest as the only low cost carrier in the area, which, by the way, is about twice as far from Orlando as it is from New Orleans. And right in the middle of that is Northwest Florida Regional Airport. This isn’t Florida. It’s the South. And it’s a part of the South that could probably support more service.

Now what about Niagara Falls on the other end? While I’ve said that Niagara Falls makes me uncomfortable because of how close it is to Buffalo, that’s not as much of a concern since the service between Buffalo and the panhandle isn’t great anyway. If someone else jumps in on that opportunity, it’ll hurt the chance Niagara Falls will work. But until then, this could do well, as long as those tarballs stay off the beach. If you’re gonna give it a shot, this seems like a decent route to try.

And then there’s Miami. When you think of horribly expensive airports in the US, you have Miami at the top of just about every list. So what gives? A few things.

First of all, Vision has two airplanes based in Miami. One, which flies Cuba charters, has a hole in the schedule on Friday that allows this flight to go. The other is used by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and it doesn’t fly on Sunday. So these airplanes are in Miami already. Now you too can fly like a deported illegal immigrant . . .

Having the airplanes and the crews there does make this much less risky, but I still wonder if this is going to lose enough to make the Niagara Falls flight unprofitable as well. I called up David Meers, Senior Vice President to ask him some questions. He says that Vision is surprised at how many bookings are already coming on the Miami-Panhandle flight. They expected to get a fair number of people traveling through to Niagara Falls, but they’re getting locals.

I remain skeptical on that one in the long run. I know the airplanes are down there anyway, so it’s tempting to give it a shot, but it seems to me that success will be a challenge. If it doesn’t work, they better be willing to run away or the losses could mount quickly. A good sign is that it’s already only going through the spring break/Easter season right now, so they aren’t trying to fly during the slow summer.

In fact, they have no interest in summer but are really looking at spring break instead. Apparently, a couple Dornier 328 turboprops are flying for Branson Air Express right now and they come off contract in December. During the winter, they’re busy flying NCAA charters, but in March they’ll have time. You can expect to see a lot more flights from the Panhandle to short haul markets, the “drive” markets as they say. We’ll also see the airline’s casino charters become scheduled flights so that anyone can book them independently. That means flights will be bookable by anyone to Biloxi/Gulfport from St Petersburg, Atlanta, and Houston.

Vision really does seem to be all over the place these days. That could work out well for the airline or it could be a distraction that really messes things up.