Southern Skyways to Join Myrtle Beach Airport Stable
Five cities in three weeks. That's what Myrtle Beach International Airport has gained with this week's addition to its air carrier fleet, Southern Skyways, which will begin nonstop service from Myrtle Beach to Allentown, Penn. and Charleston, W. Va. in March 2007. This comes right on the heels of Myrtle Beach Direct Air's recent launch of nonstop service to Newark, N.J., Pittsburgh and Niagara Falls, N.Y.
Operating as a scheduled charter airline, Southern Skyways looks to provide an additional low-fare option for Myrtle Beach and "to fill a niche ... Myrtle Beach is one of the most underserved markets" in the country, said Cary Evans, executive vice president of Southern Skyway's Atlanta-based operator, Aviation Advantage Inc., to the Sun News in yesterday's edition.
With $99 fares, Boeing 737 service and flights to eastern Pennsylvania, WPDE-TV notes that Southern's plan is "straight out of the playbook of now defunct Hooters Air." Not so fast, Evans told WPDE, in explaining that they're not trying to be Hooters Air: "We just picked one of the Hooters Air routes that we felt was most successful, and pleased that we were able to pick up where they left off. I think that benefits everybody." And when asked by Sun News business editor Garrison Wells how Southern Skyways could succeed in Myrtle Beach where Hooters could not, Evans offered this succinct observation: "Hooters is famous for chicken wings, not famous for silver wings."
If Evans' Aviation Advantage sounds familiar, it should - they have previously operated on the Grand Strand as Jet Express and Vacation Express. Evans explains how those ventures were successful in this audio interview with Garrison Wells, and what will make the Southern Skyways venture ultimately successful as well.
Some food for thought for Myrtle Beach locals: the Charleston, W. Va. folks are quick to remind us that this new air service is a two-way street - they hope it will also lure Myrtle Beach residents to visit their state to try one of their area's many whitewater rafting experiences. It's been a while for me since I've been there, but I can tell you from first-hand experience that the Cheat, Gauley and Youghiogheny rivers offer some of the best rafting excursions you'll find anywhere east of the Rocky Mountains.
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