Myrtle Beach!

I have a really hard time believing this new Myrtle Beach flight out of Capital Airport is going to succeed in the long run. I hope I’m wrong, but I really think this flight will soon disappear like they all do. And Myrtle Beach? That seems random. Maybe I don’t get it because I don’t golf.


Switching the flight to a Ft. Myers, Florida destination during the winter months at first sounded promising to me, but then thinking about it, even that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for the Springfield traveler. Maybe if the Florida destination was the in Miami/Ft. Lauderdale or Tampa area enough people might use the flight. But getting to Florida via Ft. Myers means you are probably going to have to drive some distance once there to get to your destination. And by the time you do that, you might as well just drive to St. Louis and take a more direct flight.

Another interesting thing in the SJ-R article is this:

Marketing at first will center on bringing Springfield passengers to Myrtle Beach but later will include bringing South Carolina tourists to Springfield to see the attractions.

“We plan on doing some creative things in this market,” Warneck said. “Businesses almost immediately will realize the benefits from the passengers we bring in.”

Hanna said the airport and Direct Air have been working with the Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau on ways to promote Springfield to Myrtle Beach passengers.

“We hope there is a reciprocal tourism effect here,” he said.

He said Myrtle Beach, which has about 25,000 permanent residents, is “a great, affordable alternative vacation spot.”

Wow, we’re taping into the great tourist well of a city of 25,000! Sorry, but that cracked me up.

Still, I hope this works out and we get more direct flights like it. I’m just not betting on it happening.