Southern Airways Express says they're going to be providing new flights to Dulles International Airport (IAD) from four Mid-Atlantic Region communities.
The Pompano Beach, Florida-based airline, which serves more than 30 cities across the country, will operate up to 12 daily flights to Dulles International from Bradford Regional Airport (BFD), DuBois Regional Airport (DUJ) and Lancaster Airport (LNS) in Pennsylvania, as well as Morgantown Municipal Airport (MGW) in West Virginia, under an Essential Air Service agreement with the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The Essential Air Service program determines a minimum level of service required for each eligible community by specifying a hub through which the community is linked to the national network (in this case, Washington Dulles), a minimum number of round trips, and available seats that must be provided to that hub, certain characteristics of the aircraft to be used, and the maximum permissible number of intermediate stops to the hub. The government also subsides the cost to operate these flights, regardless of bookings and total amount of paid passengers onboard.
Carl Schultz, acting vice president of airline business development for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said,
“The addition of Southern Airways Express to the Dulles International family will continue to diversify our expanding air service portfolio. These convenient new flights will help to better connect residents in smaller Mid-Atlantic communities to desirable destinations both here in the Washington, D.C., area and beyond.”
The airline will operate nine-seat Cessna Caravan aircraft on all Dulles International routes. Flights start at $29 each way. The airline does offer three fare classes "Frugal," "Friendly" and "Freedom." Each offers a different cancellation and ticket change policy.
Mark Cestari, chief commercial officer for Southern Airways Express said
“This move will not only facilitate excellent service to the entire Washington, D.C., metropolitan area but also smooth, single-change-of-plane connections to more than 100 domestic and 50 international destinations on United Airlines and the many other carriers providing worldwide service from Dulles International."
Although flights are operating on an aircraft generally not used by the major airlines for commercial flights, as it only seats nine passengers, the airline's check-in is located at on the ticketing level in the main terminal.