Larger planes returning to County

PRESQUE ISLE – Larger passenger aircraft will return to Aroostook County this summer to provide commuter air service to the Northern Maine Regional Airport.

The larger, 34-seat Saab 340 airplanes flown by Colgan Air will begin service on June 24 and continue through Sept. 8, according to airport manager Burt VerHaar.

Since last October, the airport has been served by smaller 19-passenger Beech 1900s.

The smaller planes were brought in because ridership was still down because of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington.

Colgan is the only scheduled air carrier at the airport. It receives a federal government subsidy of about $1.4 million to provide service under the Essential Air Service program of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The subsidy acts as an incentive to keep carriers like Colgan providing regular passenger service to small airports in rural areas.

The Saab 340 is a cabin-class plane and provides a greater level of comfort, including a restroom, a flight steward and in-flight refreshments. Beech 1900 flights do not provide those amenities.

“It’s what people want,” VerHaar said. “When the Saab comes in, the [ridership] numbers go up.

“People enjoy riding that airplane more,” he said.

At the same time, VerHaar cautioned that if people want the larger planes to continue to serve the airport, they will have to use them.

“In order for them to stay, we have to demonstrate to Colgan that we need it and are using it,” VerHaar said.