The airline was set up in 1994 as Vision Air. On January 19, 2011, Vision Airlines announced that it would begin commercial flights to 17 U.S. destinations beginning March 25, 2011, from Northwest Florida Regional Airport located near Fort Walton Beach, FL and Destin, FL using Boeing 737 jet and Dornier 328 turboprop aircraft. Vision was operating nonstop flights between its hub at VPS and Asheville, NC; Atlanta, GA; Baton Rouge, LA; Columbia, SC; Fort Lauderdale, FL; Fort Myers, FL; Greenville/Spartanburg, SC; Huntsville, AL; Knoxville, TN; Lafayette, LA; Little Rock, AR; Louisville, KY; Orlando/Sanford, FL; Savannah, GA; Shreveport, LA; St. Louis, MO; St. Petersburg, FL and Tunica, MS. The airline also began operating nonstop Boeing 737 flights between Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Las Vegas, Nevada with these flights being an extension of the Baton Rouge service from the Northwest Florida Regional Airport, but then suspended all service on the route. On June 16, 2011, Vision Airlines announced new service from Freeport, Bahamas to the United States beginning on November 11, 2011. The scheduled service to and from the Bahamas included new cities of Baltimore, Maryland; Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; and Richmond, Virginia. In early 2012, Vision Airlines announced that it would begin commercial flights to 11 U.S. cities beginning May 31, 2012, based in Myrtle Beach International Airport in South Carolina. Eight flights a day were to be operated from Myrtle Beach with Vision's other destinations consisting of flights between St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport and Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport. This schedule was effective May 31, 2012, through October 31, 2012. Throughout 2013, Vision's only scheduled flights were from Gulfport-Biloxi to St. Petersburg and Orlando, Florida. According to the airline's website, these flights have been discontinued and Vision currently does not operate any scheduled passenger service as an independent airline. Vision Airlines began operating flights with three Boeing 737-400 jetliners for the new People Express Airlines on June 30, 2014 from the start-up airline's hub at Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport. The original People Express Airlines operated a hub at Newark Liberty International Airport from 1981 to 1987 before being merged into Continental Airlines. However, according to a USA Today news article dated September 26, 2014, the new version of People Express then cancelled all flights on this same date and no longer operates any scheduled passenger service. In November 2014 the airline began charter flights for Sandals Resorts between Toronto and the Bahamas using a Boeing 767-200.
Destinations
Vision had served three destinations, being in the United States, and had formerly flown scheduled passenger service to a number of other U.S. cities as well as to Freeport, Bahamas in the past.
Fleet
As of May 2017, Vision Airlines does not operate any aircraft. Before ceasing operations, Vision Airlines previously operated the following aircraft:
Pilots and flight attendants from Vision Airlines volunteered to fly in supplies and emergency crews to Haiti after the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Vision Airlines loaded planes in Miami and Atlanta with rescue workers, search dogs, water and medicine.
Spy swap
On July 9, 2010, the United States government chartered a Vision Airlines jet to transport ten Russian "illegals" to Vienna and collect four alleged Western spies in the largest known prisoner swap since the Cold War.
A Virginia Department of Transportation audit of the loan by Peninsula Airport Commission's to repay a People Express Airlines debt discovered that the airline providing the air service on behalf of People Express had its Virginia Incorporation revoked more than a year earlier.
