Colonie, Albany County, New York -- OneJet, a suburban Boston-based airline startup, will begin flying nonstop between Albany and Buffalo on Feb. 1, officials at both airports announced Monday.
While OneJet currently serves Pittsburgh from Albany with small corporate jets, the new service will use Embraer 135 regional jets that normally hold 35 passengers. Because OneJet operates under a charter license, it's limited to aircraft that have no more than 30 seats. Its solution was to remove five seats and give passengers more legroom.
Aircraft also will feature free 4G wifi service, free snacks and beverages including wine and beer, and streaming entertainment on the 50-minute gate-to-gate flights.
Fares will range from $150 to $170 each way, and the airline is targeting business travelers between the two cities. A number of financial institutions, including KeyBank and M&T Bank, have operations in both places. HealthNow New York also has a sizable presence in Albany and Buffalo, and there's plenty of state government-related traffic as well.
OneJet will offer two daily round trips on weekdays. Tickets will go on sale beginning Jan. 9.
Flights will leave Albany at 8:20 a.m. and 6:10 p.m., arriving in Buffalo at 9:20 a.m. and 7:10 p.m. Flights leave Buffalo at 7 a.m. and 4:50 p.m., arriving in Albany at 7:55 a.m. and 5:45 p.m. Tailwinds typically shorten flights from west to east.
Buffalo and Albany both offered incentives to OneJet to launch the service. At Albany, the airline will get two years of free terminal rent, said Albany airport CEO John O'Donnell.
"Air service between Buffalo and Albany was presented as a mission-critical route for the Upstate New York business community, and we are pleased to offer this new nonstop service to meet that demand," said airline CEO Matthew Maguire.
In Buffalo, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who lives in that city and is a former vice president at M&T Bank, announced the new service at a Buffalo airport press conference held at the same time as Albany County Airport Authority Chairman Rev. Kenneth Doyle made the announcement at the Albany airport.
Albany lost its nonstop service to Buffalo back in 2010 and even then it was limited, with one daily round-trip on a turboprop geared more to Buffalo travelers than those in Albany.
It was a far cry from service on a route that once featured full-size jets and multiple daily trips.
"We've been looking for Buffalo for a couple of decades," O'Donnell said earlier this year. "We believe that's a profitable route if someone picks it up with a regional jet."
Last month, the Times Union reported that OneJet was studying the route and that it might use larger aircraft than the small corporate jets it flies to and from Pittsburgh.
Getting to Buffalo from Albany has been a challenge. It's a more than four-hour drive along the Thruway, where lake-effect snow squalls can quickly create near-blizzard conditions. The train takes even longer, between five and six hours.
And flying requires a change at an airport hub that can be in Newark or Detroit, or even Baltimore.
A check of Expedia.com Monday morning found itineraries that took three hours and 20 minutes or more and cost nearly $500 round tip during the week after Christmas.
Albany airport officials said they would meet with local chambers of commerce to enlist their help in marketing corporate contracts to businesses likely to use the new flights.
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