Larger capacity planes to stay at Presque Isle past September

PRESQUE ISLE – Larger capacity passenger aircraft will continue flying out of Northern Maine Regional Airport after September, an airport official announced Monday.

Colgan Air is the only scheduled air carrier at the airport. The company last month started using larger 34-seat Saab 340 airplanes in its three daily flights in and out of Presque Isle to Boston.

Plans had called for cutting back to smaller 19-seat Beech 1900s after Sept. 8.

Instead, the airline has agreed to continue with the larger planes indefinitely after that date, according to Burt VerHaar, airport general manager.

Officials at Presque Isle have been able to convince Colgan management that there is greater demand for the larger planes in Aroostook County during the fall, winter and spring, VerHaar said.

That is the period when the three colleges in the region are open, there is more winter activity and people take trips to areas with warmer climates.

By comparison, there are fewer passengers flying from Presque Isle in the summer. Summer passengers average about 20 per flight, VerHaar said.

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.

Since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, at New York and Washington, D.C., the Saab airplanes have had an on-again-off-again relationship with the Northern Maine Regional Airport.

A sharp decline in passengers after the attacks forced Colgan to switch from the Saab to the Beech 1900. But as ridership improved, the larger planes were brought back in May 2002.

However, the number of people flying in and out of Presque Isle did not pick up significantly enough, and the airline was forced in October 2002 to go back to the Beech 1900s.

The larger planes were brought back again in late June.

With the Saab 340s back, VerHaar said it is critical that the people who fly make use of them to justify Colgan’s decision to keep the larger planes servicing Aroostook County.

“The community is going to have to support it,” he said. “They’re going to have to fly out of here rather than driving to Bangor” to get a plane.