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*[[Lambert-St. Louis International Airport]]
*[[Lambert-St. Louis International Airport]]
*[[Martha's Vineyard Airport]]
*[[Martha's Vineyard Airport]]
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Revision as of 16:55, 22 December 2011

Cape Air
IATA ICAO Callsign
9K KAP CAIR
Founded1989 (1989)
AOC #HYIA145B
Hubs
Focus cities
Frequent-flyer programMillage Plus
Fleet size69
Destinations36
Parent companyDeutsche Lufthansa
HeadquartersBarnstable, Massachusetts, United States
Key peopleDaniel A. Wolf (CEO)
Websitecapeair.com
nantucketairlines.com
Cape Air Cessna 402C at Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport

Hyannis Air Service, Inc., operating as Cape Air, is an airline headquartered at Barnstable Municipal Airport in Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States.[1] It operates scheduled passenger services in the Northeast, Florida, the Caribbean, Mid-Atlantic States, Midwest, and Micronesia. Flights in Micronesia are operated as United Express flights through a code share partnership with United Airlines. Flights between Hyannis and Nantucket, Massachusetts, are operated under the Nantucket Airlines brand, also operated by Hyannis Air Service, Inc.[2]

History

A Cape Air ATR 42 in Guam, wearing codeshare colors.

The airline was co-founded in 1988 by company pilots Craig Stewart and Dan Wolf, and investor Grant Wilson. 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 U.S. 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.

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. Cape Air also flies to/from Westchester County Airport to/from Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, initially for seasonal summer flights, which has since become year round. 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.[3] Ultimately they lost out to SeaPort Airlines, which was able to get the service going sooner than the 2010 date that Cape Air had submitted.[4]

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.[5]

Cape Air operates EAS Service from Lambert-St. Louis International Airport to Cape Girardeau, MO, Kirksville, MO, Ft. Leonard Wood, MO, Marion, IL and Quincy, IL.

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.[6]

Cape Air is the largest independent regional airline in the United States and carried more than 680,000 passengers in 2009, 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
Augusta Augusta State 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
Saranac Lake Adirondack Regional Airport Essential Air Service
Watertown Watertown International Airport Essential Air Service
White Plains Westchester County Airport
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 Focus City
Hagerstown Hagerstown Regional Airport Essential Air Service
Pennsylvania
Lancaster Lancaster Airport Essential Air Service
Midwest
Illinois
Marion Williamson County Regional Airport Essential Air Service
Quincy Quincy Regional Airport Essential Air Service
Missouri
Cape Girardeau Cape Girardeau Regional Airport Essential Air Service
Ft. Leonard Wood Waynesville-St. Robert Regional Airport Essential Air Service
Kirksville Kirksville Regional Airport Essential Air Service
St. Louis Lambert-St. Louis International Airport
Florida & Caribbean
Anguilla
The Valley Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport
Florida
Fort Myers Southwest Florida International Airport
Key West Key West International Airport
British Virgin Islands
Tortola Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport
Puerto Rico
Mayagüez Eugenio María de Hostos 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 United Express
Northern Mariana Islands
Rota Rota International Airport operated as United Express
Saipan Saipan International Airport operated as United Express

Codeshares

A Cape Air Cessna 402 at HGR.
Two Cape Air Cessna 402C's in San Juan, PR

United Airlines

All Cape Air flights in Micronesia are operated as United Express in a codeshare agreement with United Airlines. Caribbean flights also have a codeshare with United, but are not operated as United Express. It was formerly operated as Continental Connection for Continental Airlines when United received a single operating certificate from the FAA on November 30, 2011 and was renamed "United Express".

JetBlue

Since February 2007, Cape Air and JetBlue Airways have had a codeshare agreement. The agreement allows Cape Air to carry JetBlue Airways 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 JetBlue Airways are located in the same terminal in Boston which allows for an easy connection.[7] The DOT cited JetBlue $600K (USD) for violating code-share disclosure rules and ADA assessibility rules.[8] JetBlue now also operates daily, seasonal, flights to Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, using their Embraer 190 aircraft.

American Airlines

The agreement which started in April 2010, allows passengers from Quincy and Marion, Il; Cape Girardeau, Kirksville, and Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri to connect in St. Louis, Mo.[9]

Fleet

As of November 2010, Cape Air's fleet consists of the following aircraft:[10]

Type Fleet Orders Passengers Notes
ATR 42-320 2 0 46 Operated in Micronesia.
Cessna 402 69 0 9

In November 2010, Cape Air announced that it was considering new aircraft types to replace the Cessna 402. On April 18, 2011, Tecnam, an Italian company announced it will be producing the Tecnam P2012 Traveller. The aircraft will be ready for delivery in 2013.[11]

Accidents and incidents

  • On January 30, 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.[12] The FAA stated that they were monitoring repairs, but that all action taken by Cape Air was voluntary and not ordered by the FAA. "They elected to do the right thing for safety."[13]
  • On September 26, 2008, a repositioning flight with no passengers on board departed Martha’s Vineyard at 8:05 pm en route 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.[13] Prior to this date, Cape Air had maintained a fatality-free record over its 18-year history.[14]

References

  1. ^ Cape Air, Inc. "The Cape Air Story". Retrieved November 4, 2010.
  2. ^ Cape Air, Inc. (2010). "The facts about Cape Air". Cape Air. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
  3. ^ Tobias, Lori (May 21, 2010). "Flap Over Newport Airport Ends in Lawsuit, Oregon Department of Justice investigation". The Oregonian. Oregon Live, LLC. Retrieved November 4, 2010.
  4. ^ "Paid Registration Required". The Daily Astorian. East Oregonian Publishing Co. Retrieved November 4, 2010.
  5. ^ Schotz, Andrew (January 2, 2009). "Second Airline Chosen to Serve Hagerstown". The Herald-Mail. The Herald-Mail Company. Retrieved November 4, 2010.
  6. ^ Carroll, Jim (November 13, 2008). "Erie-to-Pittsburgh flights pondered". Erie Times-News. Cyberlink LP. Retrieved November 4, 2010.
  7. ^ JetBlue Airways Corporation (February 14, 2007). "JetBlue Airways - Press Releases". Retrieved November 4, 2010.
  8. ^ "Airlines need to come clean on code shares". The Seattle Times. February 19, 2011.
  9. ^ Wilson, Doug (October 30, 2009). "Code share agreement struck with Cape Air". Quincy Herald-Whig. Retrieved November 4, 2010.
  10. ^ "The facts about Cape Air". Retrieved 2010-11-17.
  11. ^ "Cape Air studies three designs for Cessna 402 replacement". Retrieved 2010-11-10.
  12. ^ Cape Air grounded; Boat rescue; Barnstable crash; Harwich crash; Emergency landing; Dennis rollover
  13. ^ a b Howe, Peter J. (June 14, 2007). "Timing dulls sting of Cape Air grounding". The Boston Globe.
  14. ^ "Investigators Seek Cause Of Cape Air Crash." WCVB-TV. Posted September 26, 2008 - updated September 28, 2008.

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