Wikipedia: Bar Harbor Airlines
Early history
The company was founded by brothers Thomas and Joseph Caruso, as Bar Harbor Airways. They began flying charters and scenic flights from the Bar Harbor town dock. By
1950 they established a base of operations at the Bar Harbor airport.
Bar Harbor Airlines started flying in
1971, using Bar Harbor's
airport as their hub. The airline's first route was from Bar Harbor to
Boston.
The route proved so popular, especially among those from Maine who had daily jobs in Boston, that, by
1972, the airline expanded its route system by 350 percent, including seven cities and becoming an international airline, with a flight from Boston to
Quebec City,
Quebec,
Canada. It adopted the slogan, "Linking Maine With the World".
By
1974, the airline offered round-trip services between each city it served. Being a commuter airline made this easy, as each of their services consisted of short flights with quick turnaround times, and, with a large number of aircraft available, Bar Harbor had hubs in every city it served. During the
1970s, Bar Harbor Airlines primarily used
Beechcraft 99 aircraft.
The airline also offered cargo service to the destinations it served. Their first of two accidents involved a cargo flight. Bar Harbor's first crash, on
August 16,
1976, was on a cargo flight from
Bangor International Airport in
Bangor, Maine, to Bar Harbor. The airplane, registered
N200WP, carried only one person, the pilot, and he was not injured.
Their second accident proved to be tragic: on
August 25,
1985, the airline got some unwanted attention when
Flight 1808 crashed while landing in
Auburn, Maine. Two crew members and six passengers, including
Samantha Reed Smith, died in the plane crash. A Beechcraft 99 was used for that flight. The plane's registration was
N300WP.
[edit] The 1980s
Besides the fact that the Beechcraft that crashed in 1985 carried Samantha Smith, the airline did not receive many bad views from the press or public outside
New England after that accident. That was partly due to the fact that commuter air carriers are generally known only around the communities they fly to and from. Bar Harbor Airlines decided to make Boston's
Logan International Airport their only permanent base, aside from the Bar Harbor airport hub. Also during this decade, the airline bought some
Convair,
CASA 212,
SAAB 340,
Beech 1900, and
ATR 42 turboprop aircraft, putting them in service immediately. Bar Harbor began to operate flights under a code-share agreement with
Eastern Air Lines, and then later with
Continental Airlines.
In April 1987,
Texas Air Corporation purchased 50% of Bar Harbor Airlines, through a transfer of its ownership of
Provincetown-Boston Airlines (PBA) to Bar Harbor. Texas Air had acquired PBA through its merger with
People Express, and already owned Eastern Airlines and Continental Airlines. At the time, Provincetown-Boston (PBA) was operating as
Continental Express, and Bar Harbor as Eastern Express. Texas Air continued to operate the consolidated PBA/Bar Harbor as a commuter carrier for both Continental and Eastern, with hub operations at Boston, New York/LaGuardia, Newark, Philadelphia, Tampa, and Miami.
On
October 12,
1988, a Bar Harbor Airlines
ATR 42 airplane almost collided with
Air Force One, carrying
United States President Ronald Reagan, missing the
Boeing 707 by less than 1,000 feet (300 m).
[edit] the 1990s to Today
With additional aircraft financing, Texas Air (through Eastern and Continental) acquired a majority interest in Bar Harbor. Bar Harbor stopped flying its older aircraft, as well as the older PBA aircraft by the beginning of 1990 in favor of newer, modern aircraft. After Eastern's strike, bankruptcy filing, and ultimate separation from Texas Air, Bar Harbor too had to be divided between the two carriers. The aircraft fleet was divided between the two parents; the SAAB 340s and Beech 99s went to Eastern, and the ATR-42s went to Continental. The routes were divided between the two carriers. The Miami and Tampa hubs went to Eastern and continued operating as Eastern Express, while the Newark, LaGuardia, and Boston hubs went to Continental and operated as Continental Express. Employees were given the choice of going with either the Eastern Express division or the Continental Express portion of Bar Harbor. The Bar Harbor Airlines name and operating certificate ironically went to Eastern for the Florida operation. Continental then merged the New England portion of Bar Harbor and PBA with its other commuter carriers:
Britt Airways (Based in Terre Haute, IN) and
Rocky Mountain Airways (based in Denver), and operated Continental Express under the Britt Airways certificate.
Bar Harbor Airlines and its parent Eastern Airlines suffered economically from the
Gulf War of
1991, alongside others such as
TWA,
Pan Am. Rising fuel costs from the war, as well as management/labor issues were contributing factors in Eastern's demise. Only two months after Eastern stopped flying in January 1991, Bar Harbor ceased flying as Eastern Express.
Bar Harbor's former northern routes continued to grow and develop operating as Continental Express, now under the Britt Airways operating certificate. By 1992, Continental Express gave up the original Bar Harbor route (Bar Harbor to Boston) to
Colgan Air, as well as the Boston and LaGuardia hubs completely, consolidating East coast operations at Newark. Many of the former Bar Harbor and PBA cities (Bangor, Portland, Presque Isle, Burlington, Hartford, Manchester, Albany, Philadelphia, Hyannis) continued to operate with flights to Newark using Bar Harbor's ATR-42 aircraft.
By the end of the 1990s and into 2000, Continental Express began upgrading its fleet to regional jets, and began retiring the former Bar Harbor ATR-42s. Continental Express changed its corporate name to
Expressjet, still operating many of the former Bar Harbor Airlines routes now with
Embraer 135 regional jets under its Britt Airways operating certificate. Some of the ATR-42s were purchased by
Cape Air, another partner of Continental, and are operated by Cape Air in Guam, Saipan, and Rota as Continental Connection flights.