Last week, Direct Air announced that it is going to start using 235-seat Boeing 767s on select flights between Springfield and Punta Cana, Florida (near Fort Myers) from mid-March to the end of service April 28. Twice-weekly service using 150s-seat Boeing 737-400s has been selling out, thus the decision to upgrade.
Peoria can boast having Central Illinois’ first wide-body cargo flights when United Parcel Service began using Airbus A-300-600F’s on their Rockford-Peoria-Louisville route in February 2009. But Springfield can boast the region’s first wide-body passenger service.
I’m not sure where Direct Air is getting their 767′s. The airline’s flight schedule is operated by contract carriers Sky King, Xtra Airways, World Atlantic Airlines and USA Jet but none of these operate the venerable Boeing widebody.
Apparently, Direct Air deems an increase in aircraft size to be a better solution than adding flights. So central Illinois passengers and aviation enthusiasts alike can enjoy the brief presence of large jets this spring.
- David P. Jordan
2 responses so far ↓
1 Logistics // Feb 23, 2012 at 10:09 pm
David, I think vision airlines has 76-2′s and I think they have worked with direct air in the past.
2 David P. Jordan // Feb 23, 2012 at 10:36 pm
Hi Logistics,
That’s possible, but Vision Airlines’ fleet is configured for 224 passengers, and the SJ-R is reporting the 767′s that are to be used on the SPI-PGD runs this spring will have 235. I guess they could be adding nine more.
http://www.visionairlines.com/boeing-767-200.html
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