Direct flights between New Brunswick and Florida will be returning later this year.

Flair Airlines is bringing back its direct Saint John to Orlando route for a second year.

This year’s route will fly into and out of the larger Orlando International Airport rather than the smaller Orlando Sanford International Airport.

It will also start one month earlier this year, with the first flight scheduled for Dec. 22.

Eric Tanner, the vice-president of revenue management and network planning, said they were encouraged by the uptick they saw during the initial offering.

“I think there’s been no flight that’s sort of booked better in the first week that we were out for sale,” Tanner said in an interview in January.

The Saint John-to-Orlando route was one of 13 new sun destination routes announced by the ultra-low-cost carrier last summer.

It was also the first sunshine destination flight out of the Saint John Airport in at least several years.

“New Brunswick generally has been underserved by the existing airline offerings for far too long, particularly in the winter time, where a lot of the seasonal service dries up and there really aren’t that many options to warm weather,” Tanner added.

The route will fly once a week, with rates starting at $124 to Orlando and $59 to Saint John.