Portland Jetport adds more flights, and these ones are on a Maine carrier

File Photo / Tim Greenway Airport Director Paul Bradbury at the Portland International Jetport.

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By Staff

The flock of new airline flights heading to Maine this summer is getting bigger, with Elite Airways’ addition of four round trips per week beginning in July.

The new flights, announced Monday in a news release, will shuttle between Portland International Jetport and White Plains Westchester County Airport in New York. Continuing service will take passengers to and from two Florida destinations: Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, on Sundays and Thursdays, and Orlando Melbourne International Airport, on Fridays and Mondays.

Connections also will be available at White Plains for Elite flights to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket in Massachusetts.

Elite currently flies between Portland and Vero Beach, Fla., but that service will temporarily end on Sept. 6 due to construction planned at the Vero Beach airport.

The Jetport’s director, Paul Bradbury, called the additional service “great news for our market” in the release.

“New York and Florida continue to be among our top-requested destinations and the new Elite service should be very well received as leisure travel continues trending upward.”

The Elite expansion comes after the addition of other flights at both Portland and at Bangor International Airport.

Last month, American Airlines said it will begin flying nonstop from Bangor to hubs at Dallas-Fort Worth and Miami, while Southwest Airlines said it will expand service between Portland and Chicago Midway.

In March, United Airlines announced it will more than double the number of routes it flies out of Portland. The carrier, which currently has four nonstop flights to and from PWM, next week will add six more destinations: Indianapolis, Milwaukee and Pittsburgh, plus three in Ohio — Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland.

While some of the growth in flying options is seasonal, carriers have often converted summer-only Maine flights into year-round ones.

Elite is a regional carrier that is headquartered in Portland and operates a maintenance facility at Auburn-Lewiston Municipal Airport. In 2019, Elite carried 24,000 passengers.