It's official: Lancaster Airport has a new commercial air carrier.
Wednesday, the federal Department of Transportation announced that Hyannis, Mass.-based Cape Air has been chosen to provide Essential Air Service here, through at least Sept. 30 of this year.
One of the largest independent regional airlines in the country, Cape Air will operate five daily nonstop, round-trip flights from Lancaster to Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.
Service is expected to begin no later than April, around the time the Lancaster County Convention Center and the 300-room Marriott Lancaster at Penn Square open downtown.
The decision was not a surprise, as the Lancaster Airport Authority recommended last month that Cape Air be selected over three other bidders — Tradewind Aviation, Aviation Technologies Inc. and TransportAzumah Air Services.
But it's still "awesome" news, said Joyce Opp, the airport authority's finance and marketing director.
In the 16 years she's worked at the airport, Opp said, "I can't tell you how many people have asked me, 'Why can't we get [service to] BWI?' "
Cape Air will receive an annual Essential Air Service subsidy from the federal government of $1.37 million for its Lancaster operations. Its bid to provide air service out of Hagerstown (Md.) Regional Airport to BWI also was approved.
The EAS subsidy expires Sept. 30 but Congress is expected to renew it for four more years, Opp said.
Cape Air is "absolutely thrilled" to be coming to Lancaster, the airline's president and chief executive, Daniel A. Wolf, said in a phone interview Friday.
The average round-trip fare from Lancaster to Baltimore/Washington International on Cape Air would be $119, including taxes and fees, Opp said. But according to her calculations, a business traveler would save $157 in parking, mileage and other costs on top of that by flying instead of driving.
Wolf said that service should commence no later than April but could begin as early as March.
Around the middle of this month, he said, people can start to book flights by calling the airline at 800-352-0714; clicking on
www.flycapeair.com; or going through other online travel sites such as Travelocity, Orbitz and Expedia.
The last commercial carrier at Lancaster Airport, Mesa Air Group, which ran 18 round-trip flights a week to Pittsburgh, stopped operating here in September 2007 when Congress threatened to cut Essential Air Service funds.
Chris Barrett, president and chief executive of the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention & Visitors Bureau and a member of the local Air Service Task Force, said he's very impressed with Cape Air's customer-oriented approach.
"They're a great addition to the region," Barrett said.
And the arrival of air service just when the convention center/hotel complex is about to open is perfect timing, he said.
Opp said the economic impact of having a commercial carrier shouldn't be underestimated.
Earlier this decade, PennDOT's Bureau of Aviation commissioned a study that showed nonhub airports — like Lancaster's — with just one airline injected more than $52 million annually into their local economies, while the average airport with no airline contributed $4.6 million, she said.
"You just need to have [airline] access in order for business to prosper," Opp said.
This "speaks volumes to the important role air transportation plays in economic vitality," said Wolf, who's also one of Cape Air's pilots.
An employee-owned company, Cape Air presently flies 54 nine-passenger Cessna 402s in the Northeast, the Caribbean and the Florida Keys, and two 46-passenger ATR-42s in Micronesia.
Its initial route — from Boston to Provincetown, Mass. — began in October 1989 with two aircraft.
Cape Air, which also flies under the Nantucket Airlines brand, carries more than 650,000 passengers each year and operates up to 525 flights a day.
In addition to being a Continental Connection partner in Florida and Micronesia and a JetBlue Airways partner in New England, Cape Air is a code-share partner with Continental Airlines in the Caribbean.
The airport authority recommended the Department of Transportation choose Cape Air because of its experience; frequency of service; ticketing and baggage agreements with nearly every major carrier; and participation in global distribution systems like Travelocity, Orbitz and Expedia.
But the authority also wants to shed the airport's dependence on the Essential Air Service subsidy, and thinks Cape Air is the carrier to do that.
In a previous interview, Cape Air's Wolf said he, too, envisions a scenario where customer demand reaches a level that the subsidy is no longer needed.
That's because Cape Air employs small, relatively low-cost aircraft; flies short distances; and has inexpensive fares, he said.
In making its decision, the Department of Transportation noted that two of the four bidders, Aviation Technologies and TransportAzumah, currently lacked the requisite operating authority to provide the services they proposed.
The order issued by DOT states, "As between the two carriers with operating authority, Cape Air and Tradewind, Cape Air requires significantly less subsidy and has the full support of both [Lancaster and Hagerstown] communities."
Plus, DOT wrote, Cape Air "has a history of providing reliable service for many years."
One of Tradewind's two proposals requested a subsidy of $3.48 million over two years to run 21 weekly round-trip flights from Lancaster to Philadelphia.
The airport authority has prepared an extensive marketing campaign to launch the new commercial service; the campaign is funded by more than $182,000 in state and federal grants received through the Small Community Air Service Development Program.
Cape Air spokeswoman Michelle Haynes said the airline wants to make its presence felt here immediately.
"When we come into a market," she said, "we let people know."
Penn Square Partners, a limited partnership, consists of general partners Penn Square General Corp., a High Industries affiliate, and Penn Square Ltd. LLC, an affiliate of Lancaster Newspapers Inc., publisher of the Sunday News, Lancaster New Era and Intelligencer Journal.
Paula Wolf is a staff writer for the Sunday News. She can be reached by e-mail at pwolf@lnpnews.com.
