JamilD

That'd rule out Porter then….unless they're talking about the CSeries, but who knows when that'll happen.

t325

Mainline AC flies to MIA and MCO, and Rogue to MCO. Jazz doesn't fly to anywhere in FL, so I guess it's possible, but that's really stretching the definition of new airline.

My other thought was a European carrier that flies bigger birds in an all business class configuration (so around 70 seats perhaps) but an MLB-Europe route just wouldn't make much sense since it's intended for leisure travelers and they want to fly as cheap as possible.

Cubana doesn't make sense. Maybe if it were to MIA, but MLB? Besides, even with the ease in restrictions, are they still even allowed to fly here?

My money is on Porter or Jazz. And if it's Jazz, whoever said it's a carrier that doesn't fly into Florida is a moron. I mean, I guess technically they'd be correct. But definitely stretching the truth a bit.

realjd

Cubana was my first thought as well, but I haven't heard anything about them being allowed to land in the US yet and there's no reason they'd fly to MLB. I doubt many Cubans will be able to afford to be rushing to Disney even once relations are normalized.

My next thought was a Caribbean island hopping airline like LIAT, but I'd hardly call them "award winning", unless it's an award for being generally recognized as terrible.

AeroMexico flies to MCO. Are there any other well regarded Mexican airlines that may not fly here yet?

Here's another idea - it could be a 5th freedom down-gauge route connecting to a real international route. If Emirates weren't going to start flying to Orlando next week they'd have been my first guess.

nux

With a 70 seat aircraft?

realjd

No reason it couldn't be a 737 or something in an all or mostly J configuration.

It's a good thought experiment but realistically there's already plenty of nonstop flights from the big international gateway airports directly to where the passengers really want to go - MCO. I can understand the Qantas LAX-JFK-LAX flight because it uses the same aircraft and is on a high dollar route but doing something like a DFW-MLB QF flight on separate metal makes no sense when they can just send everyone over to AA straight into MCO like they do now.

Something stupid like Jazz is probably the right answer.

nux

So if EK wasn't about to start flying to MCO you thought they might start flying a 737 (which they don't currently operate) to MLB from one of their US destinations, bearing in mind they couldn't sell that flight on its own? Currently the smallest aircraft EK operate are A330's with 237 seats..

djk7

I have no idea of the airline, but "once a week flights" suggests a charter or tour outfit.

teddybear99

I would think because of the size of the airplane, and the location of Melbourne, the airline would have to be from Mexico, Canada, Bermuda, Bahamas, or a close Caribbean country. Most of the major carriers from these countries already serve Florida out of MIA, FLL, WPB, TPA, or MCO.


Cuba is not allowed to fly to the USA and based on the timeline of negotiations of the embargo, I would expect 2017 at the earliest.

airplanegod

Would either have to be Jazz or a small Caribbean airline. Porter isn't getting any C-Series planes until the political fight with YTZ is over.

pinniped

There's no way it's a larger plane doing an all-J 5th freedom flight. How could that possibly make sense for a seasonal beach destination? What kind of 70-seat aircraft would someone like Emirates be operating short-haul around the Western Hemisphere anyway?

When Cubana is eventually allowed to fly to the U.S., they'll fly to MIA or FLL first.

I'm tempted to dismiss the idea of a turboprop operator entirely, although a Q400 flies far enough and fast enough to make it plausible. (e.g., YTZ is in range and the plane isn't so slow that the flight would be torturous, although I had to Google it to be sure.)

Could some British airline legally fly BDA-MLB? (I doubt it would remotely make financial sense...merely curious whether they could.)

If it was just a charter, would the newspaper bother writing a story about it? Doesn't MLB already handle plenty of charter-type flights?

I'm still thinking Jazz on this one. I mean, odds are I'm wrong, and whatever else ends up being right will probably be something none of us were thinking of here!

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

"I'm tempted to dismiss the idea of a turboprop operator entirely, although a Q400 flies far enough and fast enough to make it plausible."

Yes, the flight distance is within the Q400's range, but is YTZ's sub-4,000-foot main runway long enough for the takeoff of a Q400 fueled for that distance? (I know that Porter operates seasonal YTZ-MYR service, but that's almost 400 miles shorter than YTZ-MLB.)

realjd

MLB had a few charters to/from Berlin, but not anymore. IIRC the customs facilities didn't really have the staff to handle flights that big and nobody could agree about who needed to cover the cost of bringing extra immigration folks down from Port Canaveral or MCO for each arrival. They probably ended up at SFB like the rest of the charter airlines.

If you're talking small business jets and smaller prop charters, yes we have a few of those. One charter company even runs scheduled commercial service to the Bahamas on little 6 seaters.

realjd

Maybe they'll take one of their 777s and turn it into an all F configuration?

But no, I really don't think that. I was just making discussion.

WRCSolberg

MLB and weekly service suggests some sort of tour/charter outfit, to me.

Jazz does make the most sense, but I have no clue why they would serve MLB when Rouge/AC already serves MCO. Seems too redundant.

84fiero

Charter or tour operator wouldn't fit with the description as an award-winning major international carrier...and with maybe a couple of exceptions, not likely to fit with possibility of future up-gauging of the aircraft.

Of course, that all assumes that the characterizations of the airline by the local officials, as reported by the newspaper, are accurate.