Boutique Air announced three new destinations spanning the U.S. as the airline looks to bolster its services in the East, West and South.

In a press release on Tuesday, the airline said it would be adding service to Burlington, Vt., New Orleans, La. and Las Vegas.

The announcement comes on the heels of nearly a year of expansion. In just the past nine months, the airline has started over ten new destinations, although some have ended due to either the Essential Air Services (EAS) contracts coming to an end or fierce competition from major carriers such as Southwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines.

Burlington, Vermont (BTV)

This city in the northeastern United States is located along the western border of the state and sits along the shores of Lake Champlain. This will be the carrier’s first time serving not only Burlington but the state of Vermont.

This route begins on April 29 and will be flown year-round from Boston’s Logan Airport onboard the carrier’s Pilatus PC-12 aircraft. Burlington hasn’t seen nonstop flights to Boston since 2008 and has been a highly requested route by the community for many years.

Boutique Air’s Northeast network (Photo: Boutique Air)

The route will only be flown once daily for the time being, but the carrier has stated that it is closely watching the bookings to see if a second daily flight makes sense. It will operate out of the main terminal in Burlington and will have a ticket counter located next to United Airlines.

Plattsburgh, N.Y. is an EAS city located about an hour away from Burlington across Lake Champlain. For many years, the city also saw service to Boston but lost the service in 2018 when PenAir ceased operations due to staffing issues and closed its Boston hub just days later.

A PenAir Saab340 in Plattsburgh in 2018 days before ceasing service (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)

Boutique has also stated that it expects some passengers from as far as Albany, N.Y., as that city has also lacked a Boston nonstop since Cape Air left in 2019.

New Orleans, Louisiana (MSY)

Second, the airline is looking to the South, beginning flights from Greenville, Miss. to New Orleans on April 22 which will operate year-round.

Boutique Air’s Southeast/Gulf network (Photo: Boutique Air)

All flights to the Big Easy will operate on the Pilatus PC-12 three times per week. Flights will operate on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, but just as with the Burlington flight, the airline could expand the offerings of this flight if bookings exceed current expectations.

“Greenville has been requesting this route for many years. With the rise in leisure travel, this was a no-brainer,” Boutique Air Vice President of Business Operations Brian Kondrad told AirlineGeeks about the new destination and route.

A Boutique Air Pilatus PC-12 in Greenville, Miss. (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)

Greenville, Miss. is an EAS city, but the new route to New Orleans will not be part of the program and will be flown “at-risk,” meaning it has no subsidy.

This new route will have the option of operating like the airline’s Pensacola route, where passengers from Nashville and Atlanta can fly to fly to Florida with a Muscle Shoals connection. In this case, passengers from Dallas/Fort Worth and Nashville can fly to the Birthplace of Jazz with a connection in Greenville.

The carrier will operate out of Terminal C at Louis Armstrong International Airport.

Las Vegas, Nevada (LAS)

The carrier is returning to its roots with its final new destination. Las Vegas was one of the original destinations Boutique Air served when it began flying back in 2014. Flights to Las Vegas will operate from the EAS community of Merced, Calif. and will fly year-round beginning on April 22 using the Pilatus PC-12.

Boutique Air’s Merced operations (Photo: Boutique Air)

Flights will operate four times per week, from Thursday through Sunday, and just like the prior announcements, could be increased if bookings are trending upwards.

“The citizens of Merced have been requesting the return of LAS for years as it was our most popular route back in 2015 and 2016,” Kondrad said of the route.

Although Merced is an EAS community, the Las Vegas route is not part of the contract and will be flown at-risk.

In Las Vegas, the carrier will not operate out of the main passenger terminal, but instead Signature Flight Support on Las Vegas Blvd. Passengers from Sacramento are able to fly to Las Vegas with Boutique using the Merced connection.

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Joey Gerardi

Joey has always been interested in planes for as long as he can remember. He grew up in Central New York during the early 2000s when US Airways Express turboprops ruled the skies. He was so excited when he could drive by himself and the first thing he did with the license was get ice cream and go plane spotting for the entire day. He specializes in topics surrounding the Essential Air Service (EAS) program. He graduated from WMU with a degree in Aviation Management and Operations in 2022 and now works for a major airline.

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