In 2021, it was announced that the Jack Edwards National Airport in Gulf Shores would begin offering direct flights from Atlanta, Nashville and Baton Rouge to Gulf Shores. However, just one month later those same plans were scrapped, leaving many people confused as to what exactly went wrong.

According to Jay Taffet, founder of Southeast Beach Express, the service that was originally offering those direct flights, the reason for the halt in plans is simple: a lack of rental cars.

“It was a post-COVID-19 supply chain issue. Car production had halted, and rental car companies had huge holes in their fleet allocations, especially to smaller markets like Gulf Shores/Orange Beach,” Taffet said. “What cars were positioned at the airport were going for two-three times their normal rental rates. We had competitive fares on our 30-seat jet trips, so it was a big ask for our passengers to pay more for their ground transportation than airfare once they reached their destination.”

Taffet said the company decided to make the call to cancel air shuttle late spring [before the first flights were scheduled in June], solely based on the ground transportation challenge.

“We initially had very strong booking momentum in both markets and were exceeding our expectations for the routes,” Taffet said. “It was heartbreaking to cancel an airline startup because of cars on the ground.”

Taffet said there was not much the company could do on their end short of hiring their own vehicles to transport passengers to their destinations.

“But then, what about through their vacation stay, Gulf Shores/Orange Beach is a ‘driving’ beach market, so a rental car is imperative to facilitate an extended stay,” Taffet said.

As for what’s next, Taffet said the plans aren’t completely canceled but have been stalled for now.

“It’s not in our planning at this point. My company, Gracen Jules, which developed the air shuttle venture, has shifted their focus,” Taffet said. “We have shifted to factory-new trainer aircraft leasing to support flight schools around the country that are operating at to address the global pilot shortage.”

Taffet said they haven’t completely ruled the Gulf Shores/Orange Beach shuttle out, and they may come back to it in the future.