Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport officials say it took a lot of work to get flights to another Florida city, but they’re making attracting Florida flights look like a breeze.
At a news conference Tuesday, airport executive director Carl Beardsley Jr. said Breeze Airways will fly twice a week to Tampa, Mondays and Fridays, starting Oct. 18. The one-way fare is $79 if booked by July 1 for travel by Jan. 7, 2025.
Breeze already flies to Orlando on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
“But wait, there's more,” Beardsley said. “Effective Oct. 8, they will be adding Tuesday to their current schedule. This means you'll be able to fly nonstop from AVP to Orlando five days a week.”
So far this year, Breeze either began or announced service to Orlando, Fort Myers and Tampa and flights to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Breeze started the Myrtle Beach flights Thursday. The Fort Myers flights are scheduled to start Oct. 3. Orlando service began in January.
“It’s the community,” Beardsley said. “Breeze is looking at it and saying, ‘Wow, we're getting a lot of support from this airport. And I think we would be able to grow if we put strategically if we put some service in particular markets like Tampa.’”
Tampa may have special meaning for New York Yankees fans. The Yankees conduct spring training there annually. That means local fans can jump on a plane here and conveniently get to Tampa to watch spring training.
Adam Marco serves as director of communications and radio broadcasting for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders, the Yankees' Triple-A baseball affiliate.
“And I think it actually goes both ways, that now fans can come up from Tampa to take in RailRiders games, maybe go to Hudson Valley or over to Somerset and on the way to New York,” Marco said. It could open up some possibilities for those true Yankee fans down in Tampa to come here.”
The Yankees’ Single-A affiliate is based in Fishkill, New York, part of the state’s Hudson Valley. The Double-A affiliate is in Somerset, New Jersey.
Marco said Philadelphia Phillies fans may benefit also because Clearwater, Florida, where the Phillies conduct spring training, is only 20 minutes from Tampa.
"For our Mets fans. I'm sorry. Don't grimace, you'll be fine," he joked.
The New York Mets, the Yankees' intractity arch rivals, conduct spring training hundreds of miles away in Port St. Lucie on the Atlantic coast.
The mention of grimace refers to Mets fans' recent embrace of the Grimace, the McDonald's Restaurants advertising character whose presence at a Mets game recently coincided with the team beginning a long winning streak.
