Feb. 20--CLEARWATER -- The state has filed a grand theft charge against Las Vegas-based Vision Airlines, which operates scheduled charter flights between Gulfport/Biloxi, Miss., and St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport.
The charges involve more than $100,000 in passenger facility charges Vision collected on tickets at Northwest Florida Regional Airport in Fort Walton Beach, where the airline once had a hub.
According to a prosecutor for the state attorney's office in Pensacola, the airline didn't reimburse the airport for the facility fees it collected for use of the airport.
"We have started a dialogue about resolving the case," said Russ Edgar, the prosecutor who filed the charges for the 1st Judicial Circuit of Florida.
Vision officials could not be reached for comment. The airline used the Panhandle airport as a hub for about a dozen routes before pulling out in July. Last month, Vision stranded 130 passengers at the St Petersburg-Clearwater airport during a dispute involving a $75,000 legal claim by a Fort Lauderdale jet engine maintenance company.
Gov. Rick Scott boasted within days of his January 2011 inauguration that Vision would bring 4,200 jobs to the state. The airline currently serves only St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport and Orlando Sanford International Airport.
Vision's schedules at the Pinellas airport have not been affected by the charges, director Noah Lagos said Tuesday.
The Northwest Florida Daily News reported Tuesday that Vision delivered a check for more than $117,000 to Okaloosa County, but the charges remained in place Tuesday afternoon.
Copyright 2013 - Tampa Tribune, Fla.
