Branson Airport pens deal for year-round daily flights

Last edited 11:25 a.m., May 11, 2016

Branson Airport signed an agreement to provide customers new year-round daily flights to Denver, Colo., and Houston, Texas.

The daily service routes - operated through a partnership with Portland, Maine-based Elite Airways and Cheyenne, Wy.-based Great Lakes Airlines - start July 15, according to a news release.

Elite Airways and Great Lakes Airlines signed a code-share agreement giving their customers the use of e-ticket and baggage agreements with major providers  United Airlines, American Airlines and Delta Airlines. Through the arrangement, customers can purchase a ticket from more than 100 cities indirectly to Branson on United.com or travel websites including Expedia, Travelocity or Orbitz.

Elite Airways formerly operated charter services at Branson Airport via FlyBranson Travel LLC, dba Branson AirExpress. They now operate as a U.S.-certified airline, said Jeff Bourk, executive director of Branson Airport.

In January, Smyrna, Tenn.-based charter-flight service Corporate Flight Management Inc., which does business as Buzz Airways, announced it would offer flights at Branson Airport for a fourth season. The flights offered four days a week to New Orleans and Austin, Texas, run May 26-Aug. 14.

That followed news in October that Sanford, Fla.-based charter airline Orange Air was discontinuing service in Branson.