VIENNA New airline looks to expand service

The cheapest seats on each flight will be $69.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
VIENNA -- If Vacation Express flights from the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport to Orlando, Fla., and Myrtle Beach, S.C., are popular, the company could add additional service to Florida and beyond, a company spokesman said.
"Eventually, in time we will provide the Caribbean to your people in Youngstown," said A. Cary Evans, executive vice president of Flightserv, which owns Vacation Express. "This is not immediately, but it is on the planning board for the future."
Friday, Evans appeared at a press conference with local officials to announce that a deal had been finalized for Vacation Express to commence daily flights from the local airport in April.
Fares to Sanford, Fla., outside Orlando, and Myrtle Beach will start at $69 and go incrementally up to $150 each way, as the flight fills up, Cary said. At least 10 percent of the seats on each flight will sell for the lower figure, he said.
The 120-passenger jets will fly to Sanford on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, and to Myrtle Beach on Wednesday and Saturday.
'Hardly any risk'
"There is hardly any risk we are taking here," Evans said. "We are going to Orlando, which is No. 1 on everybody's list of places to go."
Myrtle Beach is also a top vacation spot east of the Mississippi, he said.
If customer response warrants, Vacation Express would likely expand with flights from Vienna to Miami/Fort Lauderdale or additional flights to Sanford, which it uses as a hub for flights to the Caribbean, he said.
Call volume to Vacation Express' reservation line has doubled since the Western Reserve Port Authority, which runs the airport, announced that it signed a contract for the flights earlier this week, Evans said.
"Nobody knows anything about it, and we already booked 100 people," he said.
At the press conference, commissioners from Trumbull and Mahoning counties said they believed the flights would be a success. There hasn't been regularly scheduled service from the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport since Northwest pulled out in October 2002.
"The airport is a diamond in the rough, I have always said that," said Trumbull County Commissioner James Tsagaris. "Now it is up to the people in the area to show they will support it."
Borrowed money
The counties have each borrowed $150,000 to help the port authority get Vacation Express off the ground. The port authority has pledged to repay the money with what they hope will be expanded revenue from airport parking and fuel sales, said airport director Steve Bowser.
After the press conference, Vicki Stankewich, owner of Howland Travel, said she was sure Vacation Express would be able to fill the seats on its Vienna flights.
"I don't think it will be a problem," she said. "I've had people calling about it all week."
Flightserv Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of RCG Companies Inc., which is listed on the American Stock Exchange under the symbol "RCG."
siff@vindy.com