Cape Air to trial new New York-Boston waterfront connection
Cape Air may soon offer a new connection between the storied Boston and New York waterfronts.
The Massachusetts-based regional carrier has approval to trial seaplane flights between Boston Harbor and New York's East River for a year, according to a statement from the Boston Planning & Development Agency. The BPDA board approved the trial earlier in February.
Cape Air can operate up to four flights a day between Boston and New York under the trial authority. The seaplane service will operate from the Boston Waterboat Marina, which is a quarter of a mile east of Faneuil Hall, and the New York Skyport in the East River at 23rd Street.
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No launch date has been set, though Cape Air CEO Dan Wolf told The Boston Globe in January that flights could begin as early as March.
Cape Air declined to comment on the proposed seaplane service, which it has sought to operate for at least seven years.
The planned seaplane service would take around an hour and cost roughly $400, Wolf told the Globe.
For comparison, Amtrak Acela trains make the Boston-New York run is as little as 3 hours and 32 minutes. American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and JetBlue Airways shuttle flights between Boston Logan (BOS) and New York LaGuardia (LGA) are scheduled for as little as 1 hour and 17 minutes.
Related: What it's like flying Cape Air
The regional airline is best known for its flights connecting Boston and Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard (MVY) and Nantucket (ACK). The airline added year-round service between Boston and Portland, Maine (PWM), and New York John F. Kennedy (JFK) and both Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket in September. It also operates flights to smaller communities around the country from bases in Billings, Montana (BIL), St. Louis (STL) and San Juan (SJU).
Cape Air partners with American, JetBlue and United Airlines on various routes across the country.
On the fleet side, the carrier plans to introduce its first all-new aircraft, the nine-seat Tecnam P2012 Traveller, in the coming weeks.
Related: Cape Air delays first Tecnam Traveller flights to March
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