Tailwind Air, the innovative seaplane service between Boston and New York harbors, ceased scheduled operations last week but plans to continue charter operations.
The scheduled service, which used a company-owned base in Boston Harbor and the 23rd Street seaplane dock in Manhattan, began service in 2021 but didn’t make enough money to keep going. It used amphibious Cessna Caravans and also flew from Boston to Nantucket and Provincetown and from Manhattan to the Hamptons.
The main sales pitch was saving time. Boston to New York took about 90 minutes.
Tailwind Air CEO Alan Ram told the Boston Globe traffic increased by 10 percent in the past year, but only about 3,000 people flew on the Caravans and that wasn’t enough to keep it going. A one-way fare was $400-$800.
It took more than five years to get all the approvals in place and they remain valid, so Ram isn’t ruling out another group of investors reviving the service.
Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on AVweb.com.
