Cape Air

Cape Air

IATA ICAO Call sign 9K KAP CAIR
Founded	1989
Hubs	Barnstable Municipal Airport Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport Boston Logan International Airport
Focus cities	Albany International Airport
Fleet size	55
Destinations	29
Headquarters	Hyannis, Massachusetts
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 based in Massachusetts, USA. It operates scheduled passenger services in the Northeast, Florida, the Caribbean, and Micronesia. Flights in Florida and Micronesia are operated as Continental Connection flights through a code share partnership with Continental Airlines. Flights between Hyannis, Massachusetts and Nantucket, Massachusetts are operated under the Nantucket Airlines brand, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cape Air. The airline's corporate headquarters is located at Barnstable Municipal Airport, Hyannis, Massachusetts.

History

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, VT 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.

File:C402C N247GS SJU 7-14-08.JPG

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, NY and Saranac Lake, NY on February 12, 2008.

The airline continued its expansion into New York when they started to fly the EAS routes out of Albany, NY to Watertown, Ogdensburg, and Massena, New York. Cape Air will also start to fly from Lebanon, NH to Boston starting November 1, 2008. The company recently purchased four additional Cessna 402's to assist with the recent growth.

Cape Air also is looking to offer service on the west coast. Cape Air is hoping to offer service between Newport and Portland in the state of Oregon. The airline is hoping to be selected by the Newport city council to receive a financial grant to jump-start the service.

Cape Air is the largest independent regional airline in the United States and carried nearly 700,000 passengers in 2005, with new routes driving steady increases over time. During peak tourist season Cape Air offers more than 850 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

Codeshares

Continental Connection

All Cape Air flights in Florida and Micronesia are operated as Continental Connection in a codeshare agreement with Continental Airlines.

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 March 2007, 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	53	9	47 painted in Cape Air livery, 6 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, R.I

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.

External links

• Cape Air