Mystery airline announcement expected at Melbourne airport: Which carrier is coming?
Update: We have an answer!
Original story:
Melbourne Orlando International Airport officials are expected to announce the debut of a new mystery airline — and they're teasing the news on social media with a photo depicting a dotted outline of an unidentified jetliner taxiing toward a gate.
"Watch this space! We’ve got an exciting announcement coming this Thursday!" airport officials said on Facebook and Twitter.
The dotted-line jetliner image and message appeared late Monday afternoon on the airport's social media channels. Airport spokesperson Keely Leggett declined further comment on Thursday's upcoming announcement.
Thanks to TUI's debut year of travel-package flights transporting tourists from the United Kingdom, the Melbourne airport's total number of incoming and departing passengers rocketed from 372,287 in 2021 to 701,257 in 2022.
A Brightline train station at MLB? Melbourne airport officials push for passenger facility
Cruising and flying: TUI starts 2nd year of U.K. tourist flights to Melbourne, adds Port Canaveral cruise ship
Airport officials predict this year will generate a record-breaking total of 850,000 incoming and departing passengers, Jack Ryals, the airport's senior adviser for local and regional affairs, told a Space Coast Transportation Planning Organization committee last month.
Ryals did not mention that an undisclosed airline could soon launch service.
The Melbourne airport accommodates a growing roster of flights:
TUI: vacation-package flights from eight U.K. cities.
Delta Air Lines: daily nonstop service to Atlanta, Georgia
American Airlines: daily nonstop service to Charlotte, North Carolina, and Saturday nonstop service to Washington, D.C.
Allegiant: twice-weekly nonstop service to Nashville, Tennessee, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Sun Country: twice-weekly nonstop service to Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota.
More Melbourne news: Daily Bread proposes to build Melbourne homeless shelter-service complex on Sarno Road
Busy beaches: Record-setting Space Coast spring break has Cocoa Beach area buzzing
Two Canadian carriers, Sunwing Airlines and Canada Jetlines, previously announced they would launch Melbourne flights in December and January, respectively. But neither came to fruition.
In January, Melbourne airport officials conducted a VIP ribbon-cutting ceremony to unveil a $72 million passenger terminal expansion-renovation designed to handle aircraft as large as TUI's Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
The project added 86,000 square feet of floor space, expanding the terminal beyond the 300,000-square-foot threshold.
Rick Neale is the South Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here.) Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @RickNeale1
Support local journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: MLB airport expected to add mystery airline
