Southern Airways Express

Southern Airways Express
IATA ICAO Callsign
9X LTD LIGHTSPEED
Founded 2013
Hubs Memphis International Airport
Destin Executive Airport[1]
Fleet size 4
Destinations 10
Headquarters Memphis, TN
Key people Stan Little (Chairman and CEO)[1]
Website http://www.iflysouthern.com
One Commerce Square, which houses the company headquarters
Southern Airways Express Cessna Caravan

Southern Airways Express is a commuter airline operating in the United States, headquartered in One Commerce Square in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee.[2] The airline was founded in 2013, with its first passenger flight operating on 6 June 2013 from Memphis to Destin.[3] On 1 October 2014, Southern Airways Express relocated its Memphis hub from Olive Branch Airport to the Signature terminal of Memphis International Airport.[4][5]

As a local service airline, Southern Airways Express serves ten cities in the Southern United States, with hubs in Memphis, Tennessee and Destin, Florida.[6]

Unlike major carriers, Southern Airways Express mainly operates out of general aviation fixed-base operator (FBO) terminals. Additionally, all flights are conducted under FAR part 135 regulations as "on-demand charters" that each carry fewer than 10 passengers, so there are no significant Transportation Security Administration requirements regarding passenger screening and baggage inspection. In addition to this, no baggage and parking fees are charged for flights.[7]

History

Stan Little was an attorney based in Hernando, Mississippi who owned a Cessna 208 Caravan.[7][8] He retained Scott Honnell as his personal pilot, and it was common for Little to have people ask to borrow his plane. Little was usually OK with loaning the plane out, as long as the borrower paid for the pilot and fuel.[7][8]

The airline was started when Honnell jokingly suggested that Little hire him full-time to start a short-haul carrier, selling seats as a charter. Little initially laughed at the idea, but later that day he began to seriously consider this idea. Little started to read through the United States Department of Transportation regulations when he got back home. He said that the regulations mean that entering the US aviation industry impossible without '$50 million and 5 years of paper work', but he realized that most of the stricter regulations only apply to airlines carrying more than 10 passengers with planes having an empty weight of over 8,500 pounds and using TSA terminals. Since Southern Airways Express do not carry more than 10 passengers per flight, with planes that weigh less than 8,500 gross empty pounds (Cessna 208 Caravan and Beechcraft King Air 200), and do not use TSA terminals, it is exempt from many of these requirements. Little brainstormed potential routes by mapping these routes on a napkin and some dominoes and rearranging them to fit the schedule. A few local investors were convinced that the idea would work, and put up about $750,000 in seed money for specialized logistics software.[7][8]

The airline started operations in June 2013, with its hubs at Olive Branch Airport as an airport for Memphis, Tennessee, and Destin Executive Airport. First destinations include University-Oxford Airport, Birmingham Shuttlesworth International Airport, New Orleans Lakefront Airport, and Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport. Due to the nature of the flights being public charters, the airline cannot use TSA terminals. During the first year, the airline was run experimentally, with the airline operating different routes to test demand.[8]

Southern Airways Express started flights to DeKalb–Peachtree Airport in September 2013,[7] but the routes were then suspended. Service to DeKalb-Peachtree resumed on 30 May 2014.[9] On 1 October 2014, Southern Airways Express relocated its Memphis hub from Olive Branch Airport to the Private Signature Terminal at Memphis International Airport, which is closer to the Memphis city center.[4]

Southern Airways Express now operates Cessna Caravans at select cities for Seaport Airlines. October 2015 on.

Southern Airways Express announced on March 7, 2016 that it had purchased Fort Lauderdale-based Sun Air Express. The combined airline will retire Sun Air Express's Piper aircraft in favor of the Cessna Caravan.[10]

Destinations

City Airport IATA ICAO FAA LID Remarks
Memphis Memphis International Airport MEM KMEM MEM Hub
Oxford University-Oxford Airport UOX KUOX UOX
New Orleans Lakefront Airport NEW KNEW NEW Seasonal
Destin Destin Executive Airport DSI KDTS DTS Hub
Panama City Beach Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport ECP KECP ECP
Birmingham Birmingham–Shuttlesworth International Airport[11] BHM KBHM BHM Seasonal
Atlanta DeKalb–Peachtree Airport PDK KPDK PDK
Madison Bruce Campbell Field DXE KMBO MBO
Knoxville McGhee Tyson Airport TYS KTYS TYS
Chattanooga Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport CHA KCHA CHA

Fleet

As of October 2014, the Southern Airways Express fleet consists of the following aircraft:[12]

Aircraft Total Passengers Notes
Cessna 208 Caravan 2 9
Total 4

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "About Us". Southern Airways Express. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  2. ↑ "Contact Us." Southern Airways Express. Retrieved on November 21, 2014. "Southern Airways Express One Commerce Square, 21st Floor P.O. Box 3088 Memphis, TN 38173"
  3. ↑ "Southern Airways Express Flight 001 Touches down in Destin!". Southern Airways Express Facebook Page. June 6, 2013. Retrieved 2013-06-18.
  4. 1 2 "Southern Airways Moving Hub to Memphis International". Memphis Daily News. 2014-09-16. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  5. ↑ Turner, Dennis (2014-09-16). "Southern Airways Express moves to MEM". WREG. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  6. ↑ "About Us". Southern Airways Express. Retrieved 2013-06-17.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Murff, Richard; Jones, Matthew. "Fly Me to the Gulf". THE BITTER SOUTHERNER. Retrieved 2015-06-25.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Associated Press (2014-06-07). "Southern Airways Express Tries to Replace Big Airlines One Small Mississippi Airport at a Time". Skift.com. Retrieved 2015-06-28.
  9. ↑ Yamanouhi, Kelly (7 May 2014). "Southern Airways to resume PDK flights". AJC.com. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
  10. ↑ http://us9.campaign-archive2.com/?u=f3bfbfe8d5ddc1b8839c7233a&id=1e99a71c69
  11. ↑ Smith, Mike D. (2015-02-11). "New Birmingham-to-New Orleans direct flight to begin running later this year". AL.com. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  12. ↑ "Southern Airways Express eyes Atlanta Dekalb-Peachtree ops". ch-aviation.ch. Retrieved 2014-10-04.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, April 16, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.