Cape Air
July 4th, 2009| Cape Air | ||
|---|---|---|
| IATA 9K |
ICAO KAP |
Callsign CAIR |
| Founded | 1989 | |
| Hubs | Barnstable Municipal Airport Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport Boston Logan International Airport Baltimore-Washington International Airport |
|
| Focus cities | Albany International Airport | |
| Fleet size | 55 | |
| Destinations | 29 | |
| Headquarters | Barnstable, Massachusetts, U.S. | |
| Key people | Daniel A. Wolf (CEO) | |
| Website: http://www.flycapeair.com http://www.nantucketairlines.com |
||
Hyannis Air Service, Inc., operating as Cape Air, is an airline headquartered at Barnstable Municipal Airport in Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States. It operates scheduled passenger services in the Northeast, Florida, the Caribbean, Mid-Atlantic States and Micronesia. Flights in Florida and Micronesia are operated as Continental Connection flights through a code share partnership with Continental Airlines. Flights between Hyannis and Nantucket, Massachusetts, are operated under the Nantucket Airlines brand, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cape Air.
Contents
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History
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Cessna 402C at Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport
The airline was co-founded in 1989 by company pilot Dan Wolf and a few of his close friends. Initially Cape Air flew between Provincetown and Boston in Massachusetts, but throughout the early 1990s new routes were added to destinations across southeastern New England. Services in Florida and the Caribbean were added in the late 1990s, and service in Micronesia commenced in 2004. In 1994, Cape Air and Nantucket Airlines merged and now offer hourly flights between Nantucket and Hyannis.
In late 2007, the airline began a new round of expansion in the Northeast and Midwest. On November 1, 2007, the airline began service between Boston and Rutland, Vermont, with three daily round trips. The route is subsidized by the US government under the Essential Air Service (EAS) program.
With the help of a government grant, Cape Air expanded into Indiana on November 13, 2007, offering flights from Indianapolis to Evansville and South Bend. The airline did not get the passengers numbers needed to be financially successful once subsidies would come to an end. The last Cape Air flight in Indiana was on August 31, 2008.
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Two Cape Air Cessna 402C’s in San Juan, PR
The airline expanded into upstate New York in early 2008 following the sudden demise of Delta Connection carrier Big Sky Airlines. Cape Air began flying three daily round-trips on Essential Air Service routes from Boston to the Adirondack cities of Plattsburgh and Saranac Lake on February 12, 2008.
The airline continued its expansion into New York when they started to fly the EAS routes out of Albany to Watertown, Ogdensburg, and Massena. Cape Air commenced service from Rockland, Maine, and Lebanon, New Hampshire, to Boston on November 1, 2008. The company recently purchased four additional Cessna 402’s to assist with the recent growth.
Cape Air was also looking to offer service on the west coast. Cape Air submitted bids to offer service between Newport and Portland in the state of Oregon. The airline was hoping to be selected by the Newport city council to receive a financial grant to jump-start the service. Ultimately they lost out to another local airline which was able to get the service going sooner than the 2010 date that Cape Air had submitted.
The airline has also broken into the mid-Atlantic region. Cape Air provides regularly scheduled flights from both the Hagerstown Regional Airport and the Lancaster Airport to the Baltimore-Washington International Airport.
Cape Air has held discussions with airport officials to offer service between Pittsburgh International Airport and Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Latrobe, Pennsylvania and Erie International Airport in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Cape Air is the largest independent regional airline in the United States and carried more than 650,000 passengers in 2007, with new routes driving steady increases over time. Cape Air offers up to 550 daily flights system wide.
Nantucket Airlines
Nantucket Airlines, Cape Air’s sister airline, operates Cape Air service under the Nantucket Airlines name. Flights depart hourly, and operate between Nantucket (Nantucket Memorial Airport) and Hyannis (Barnstable Municipal Airport).
Destinations
| List of Destinations | ||
|---|---|---|
| City | Airport | Notes |
| Northeast | ||
| Massachusetts | ||
| Boston | Logan International Airport | Hub |
| Hyannis | Barnstable Municipal Airport | Main Hub |
| Martha’s Vineyard | Martha’s Vineyard Airport | |
| Nantucket | Nantucket Memorial Airport | Select service is operated by Cape Air’s sister airline, Nantucket Airlines |
| New Bedford | New Bedford Regional Airport | |
| Provincetown | Provincetown Municipal Airport | |
| Maine | ||
| Rockland | Knox County Regional Airport | Essential Air Service |
| New Hampshire | ||
| Lebanon | Lebanon Municipal Airport | Essential Air Service |
| New York | ||
| Albany | Albany International Airport | Focus City |
| Massena | Massena International Airport | Essential Air Service |
| Ogdensburg | Ogdensburg International Airport | Essential Air Service |
| Plattsburgh | Plattsburgh International Airport | Essential Air Service |
| Saranac Lake | Adirondack Regional Airport | Essential Air Service |
| Watertown | Watertown International Airport | Essential Air Service |
| White Plains | Begins June 12, 2009 | |
| Rhode Island | ||
| Providence | T. F. Green Airport | seasonal service |
| Vermont | ||
| Rutland | Rutland Southern Vermont Regional Airport | Essential Air Service |
| Mid-Atlantic | ||
| Maryland | ||
| Baltimore | Baltimore-Washington International | Essential Air Service |
| Hagerstown | Hagerstown Regional Airport | Essential Air Service |
| Pennsylvania | ||
| Lancaster | Lancaster Airport | Essential Air Service |
| Florida & Caribbean | ||
| Florida | ||
| Fort Myers | Southwest Florida International Airport | operated as Continental Connection |
| Key West | Key West International Airport | operated as Continental Connection |
| Marathon | Florida Keys Marathon Airport | operated as Continental Connection |
| British Virgin Islands | ||
| Tortola | Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport | |
| Puerto Rico | ||
| Mayagüez | Eugenio María de Hostos Airport | Essential Air Service |
| Ponce | Mercedita Airport | Essential Air Service |
| San Juan | Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport | Hub |
| Vieques | Antonio Rivera Rodríguez Airport | |
| United States Virgin Islands | ||
| St. Croix | Henry E. Rohlsen Airport | |
| St. Thomas | Cyril E. King Airport | |
| Micronesia | ||
| Guam | ||
| Guam | Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport | operated as Continental Connection |
| Northern Mariana Islands | ||
| Rota | Rota International Airport | operated as Continental Connection |
| Saipan | Saipan International Airport | operated as Continental Connection |
Codeshares
Continental Airlines
All Cape Air flights in Florida and Micronesia are operated as Continental Connection in a codeshare agreement with Continental Airlines. Caribbean flights also have a codeshare with Continental, but are not operated as Continental Connection.
JetBlue
Since February 2007, Cape Air and JetBlue have had a codeshare agreement. The agreement allows Cape Air to carry JetBlue passengers from Boston’s Logan Airport to Cape Air’s destinations throughout Cape Cod and the surrounding islands. The agreement allows customers on both airlines to purchase seats on both airlines under one reservation. Customers also get their baggage transferred and Cape Air and Jet Blue are located in the same terminal in Boston which allows for an easy connection.
Fleet
As of April 2009, Cape Air’s fleet consists of the following aircraft:
| Type | Fleet | Seats | Aircraft Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| ATR 42-320 | 2 | 46 | Operated in the Micronesia under the Continental Connection brand. |
| Cessna 402C | 55 | 9 | 52 painted in Cape Air livery, 3 painted in Nantucket Airlines livery. |
Accidents and incidents
In January 2001, a Cape Air pilot and his only passenger were injured when a Cessna 402C crashed just short of the Martha’s Vineyard Airport on a flight from T. F. Green Airport in Warwick, Rhode Island.
In June 2007, Cape Air CEO Daniel Wolf announced the grounding of all of Cape Air’s 49 Cessna 402C aircraft nationwide, after three in-flight engine failures. The problem was blamed on premature wear on the crankshaft counterweight. All 402 services were canceled for two days while the counterweights were inspected and replaced as necessary. Normal service resumed about four days after the initial fleet grounding. The FAA stated that they were monitoring repairs, but that all action taken by Cape Air was voluntary not ordered, “They elected to do the right thing for safety.”
On September 26, 2008 Cape Air Flight 1055, a Cessna 402 aircraft, departed Martha’s Vineyard at 8:05 pm on a flight to Boston. Shortly after takeoff from runway 33, the plane went down about two and a half miles from the airport, killing the pilot who was the sole occupant. Prior to this date, Cape Air had maintained a fatality-free record over its 18-year history.
References
- ^ “We want to help.” Cape Air. Retrieved on May 21, 2009.
- ^ http://www.dailyastorian.info/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=395&ArticleID=53632&TM=59300.5
- ^ http://www.dailyastorian.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=398&ArticleID=55947&TM=8554.535
- ^ ANDREW SCHOTZ, Second airline chosen to serve Hagerstown, The Herald-Mail, Published Friday 02 January 2009, Retrieved Friday 02 January 2009.
- ^ http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081113/NEWS02/311139828
- ^ http://investor.jetblue.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=131045&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=963198&highlight=
- ^ “Directory: World Airlines”. Flight International: pp. 60-61. 2007-04-03.
- ^ Cape Air grounded; Boat rescue; Barnstable crash; Harwich crash; Emergency landing; Dennis rollover
- ^ Timing dulls sting of Cape Air grounding - The Boston Globe
- ^ “Investigators Seek Cause Of Cape Air Crash.” WCVB-TV. Posted September 26, 2008 - updated September 28, 2008.
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