Fayetteville Regional Airport adding more nonstop flights to Washington, D.C.

Oct. 09--Fayetteville Regional Airport is adding nonstop flights to Washington, D.C.

Beginning Feb. 14, United Airlines will provide three round-trip flights from Washington Dulles to the Fayetteville airport.

Brad Whited, director of Fayetteville Regional Airport, said in a news release today United Express regional carrier CommutAir will serve the Fayetteville market with 37 passenger Q200 airplanes and flight time is expected to be about an hour and 20 minutes.

This is the second announcement this year of flights to Washington. In January, officials announced US Airways would begin in March a daily nonstop flight from Fayetteville to Reagan National Airport in downtown Washington.

Direct service between Fayetteville and Fort Bragg and the Washington area had long been a goal of the region's leaders. Based on a January 2010 air service study for Fayetteville, potential demand is 15,000 to 35,000 passengers per year.

The Fayetteville airport has other daily flights to a US Airways hub in Charlotte and a Delta Airlines hub in Atlanta.

United's tentative schedule next year is as follows:

Leaving Fayetteville for Dulles at 10:05 a.m.; 2:30 p.m. and 7:15 p.m.

Arriving to Fayetteville from Dulles at 9:35 a.m.; 1:40 p.m. and 6:40 p.m.

Staff writer Andrew Barksdale can be reached at [email protected] or 486-3565.

Copyright 2012 - The Fayetteville Observer, N.C.