Cape Air tests the waters on float plane routes • New York-Boston service in development, with Cape destinations a further possibility

HYANNIS – After about eight years of research into potential new services, Cape Air is looking at the water.

Founder and CEO Dan Wolf confirmed that the company is exploring a scheduled float plane route between Boston Harbor’s Fan Pier in the city’s Seaport District and New York Skyports Inc.’s seaplane base on the East River in Manhattan, at 23rd Street.

Avoiding the airport commutes will shave an hour and 15 minutes off the city-to-city trip, according to Wolf.

“And it opens the door to limited service on the Cape and Islands,” he said. “Provincetown, Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket and Hyannis all have great facilities.”

Wolf said Cape Air is now in the process of working with the Federal Aviation Administration to secure certification of the route on a scheduled basis, a six- to nine-month process that the company hopes to complete by the end of this year.

“The New York seaplane base has always been there on demand,” Wolf said. “This would be the first scheduled New York-Boston service.”

The plan is operate these flights year-round, starting in the fall of 2016. Because they are daylight-only flights, the initial schedule will be four round-trips per day, increasing to six per day in the summer, Wolf said.

The company also is looking into acquiring three new Cessna Caravan amphibian planes, which have the same seating configuration of Cape Air’s familiar nine-passenger, two-engine Cessna 402s.

Each of the new planes comes with a price tag of $3 million to $3.5 million.

“This is a big investment for Cape Air,” Wolf said.

Earlier this year, Cape Air, which is the nation’s largest independent regional airline, struck up a support agreement with a resort operator in the Bahamas as a way to begin building float plane experience.

“A lot of training is required to do this efficiently and safely,” Wolf said, adding that the training was for both pilots and mechanics.

The resort uses three float planes to shuttle guests back and forth from Miami to its beachfront hotel and casino on North Bimini Island, according to Resorts World spokeswoman Heather Krasnow.

It operates a fourth float plane on the island for shore excursions, she said.

Cape Air also is working on a fleet update plan to swap out its 402s for new models over time and add additional planes to support expanded service.

Currently, the company is looking at what the Chinese aviation corporation AVIC may have to offer. It’s also is in what Wolf called “exciting discussions” with the Italian company Tecnam about ordering approximately 100 planes over seven years once the company goes into production with the kind of aircraft Cape Air is looking for – twin-engine prop planes.

“There is now no viable twin-engine replacement being manufactured in the US,” Wolf said. “For Cape Air to be around in 20 years we need replacement planes. Twin engine is important for safety, and we want reciprocating as opposed to jets. We won’t settle for less.”

Source:  http://www.capecodtimes.com