It seems as though every week there’s something exciting going on at Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTIA) and this coming week is no exception.
On Tuesday morning, July 25, Silver Airways – a airline providing new service to the airport – will land its first flight from Orlando to PTIA.
PTIA – which doesn’t like, but loves getting new airlines and new routes – is making a big deal out of the inaugural flight. Airport officials have invited area reporters to come out that morning for the celebration of the plane’s arrival, which will include a water cannon salute.
PTIA Executive Director Kevin Baker and Steve Rossum, the CEO of Silver Airways, are making themselves available for interviews that morning as well. Both men want to get the word out as much as possible. Rossum obviously wants the flights full and, any time there are new routes in and out of PTIA, Baker always stresses to area residents that they need to use them or lose them.
In May, PTIA announced that Silver Airways would be opening up daily non-stop service to Nashville and Orlando from PTIA.
The fare for a 2 hour and 25-minute flight to and from Orlando can often be had for under $100 not including taxes and add-ons.
Silver Airways is an independent regional airline that touts its “fuel efficient and environmentally friendly” turboprop planes.
The airline currently operates the most passenger routes within Florida and between Florida and the Bahamas from its gateways in Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, and Tampa. The airline’s Caribbean network connects Puerto Rico with the US Virgin Islands and many other islands such as St. Maarten, St. Kitts and the British Virgin Islands.
It also has very active cargo operations and partners with United, JetBlue, American, Delta, Avianca and Copa Airlines, and Silver Airways has interline cargo agreements with Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, All Nippon Airways, Azul, Bahamas Air, Emirates and APG.
A turboprop? Better off going to RDU or CLT so you can fly in a real airplane.
So you fly 250mph instead of 500mph. Big deal on short flights, where much of the flight time is taken up with taking off and landing. Often overlooked is that turboprops are more dependable than jets. Wingspans with more lift because of slower landing and take-off speeds – that means you can fly easily with one engine; and you can glide further for a landing if necessary.
On another note, why fly to Orlando? To experience the extraction of money from your family at an alarming rate, and an woke lesson from the Disney Corporation? My wife used to take yearly trips to Disney World with her children and grandchildren – no more.
There’s a real good chance the flight will be late and an equal chance it will be canceled altogether. I’ve grown Silver from FL to The Bahamas for years. Their ability to operate with any reliability at all has turned from marginal to the worst ever. Check out their data for the newly added flight from Orlando to North Eleuthera. It has been canceled 4 out of the 6 times since it started. It’s a 1 and a half hour flight. Most of the times they really don’t do much to try to accommodate you or get you were your going when they do cancel. Delays from 2 – 8 hours should be expected if booking with them. They did get us on a different flight when they canceled the only flight that day on our return trip last week from The Bahamas. I do feel safe on the actual equipment they use though. Their new (ATRS)aircraft are much nicer compared to their previous saabs. IT DOESN’T DO ANY GOOD TO HAVE CHEAP FLIGHTS WITH QUALITY AIRCRAFT IF IT NEVER LEAVES THE GATE!!!!! WE WON’T BE FLYING THEM AGAIN.
Much like the whole industry.
Are you kin to the Pinder families from Spanish Wells? And how did you end up in Greensboro??