A Guide To The United States’ Lesser Known Commuter Airlines

We all, of course, have heard of United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines, Frontier Airlines, and the likes, and many if not most of us have even heard of Sun Country Airlines. But have you heard of Southern Airways Express or Boutique Air or Mokulele Air Lines? My guess is that probably most people have not. While the US has only 11 mainline carriers, the US has dozens of regional carriers, which are for the most part devoted to operating flights on behalf of mainline carriers, which would include Republic Airways, SkyWest Airlines, Mesa Airlines, and the likes, which (for the most part) operate flights on behalf of mainline carriers under the branding of United Express, Delta Connection, etc.

However, this article isn’t even about those airlines, it’s about airlines which are even smaller than them and mostly operate prop aircraft, such as the nine-seater Cessna 208, to airports too small for (or where there isn’t enough demand for) larger regional jets, such as the E175 or even the 50 seater CRJ-200.

There are dozens of these little known airlines that operate within the United States (just look at the DOT’s list here), with some of them much more financially sound and respectable than others, such as Cape Air, which has almost 100 nine-seater aircraft. There isn’t one main reason why each and every one of these airlines exists, though many operate to serve smaller tourist destinations, such as Mokulele Airlines, while some are highly subsidized and operate almost exclusively to destinations under the Essential Air Service program, such as EAS, while others operate under a combination of the two, such as Cape Air.

Many of them operate exclusively from major cities in which their little Cessnas look extremely out of place, while others operate mostly between smaller communities – some of Alaska’s commuter airlines come to mind. I won’t be covering anywhere near all of the US’ commuter airlines which exist in this article (that would surely take weeks to write), though I do intend to cover most of the largest and those which operate to the largest airports.

What Is The Essential Air Service (EAS)?

Firstly, since I’m going to mention it a few times in this article, I figure it’s best to talk about the Essential Air Services and what it entails, due to how prevalent it is when discussing such airlines. The Essential Air Service program was created in 1978 and serves to subsidize flights to smaller communities where it may not be profitable for an airline to operate to but where air travel still is necessary to better serve those smaller communities, largely economically.

Nowadays, these routes are subsidized by the DOT and mostly mandate for approximately two 30-50 seater aircraft to serve the community a day, or sometimes with more frequencies if operated by smaller aircraft. The subsidies are pretty hefty; while airports within 210 miles of a medium or large airport are not allowed to get subsidies of more than $200 per passenger (which still is a lot), while for some destinations, subsidies can be over $1,000 per passenger, though often times they are below $100! This oftentimes makes it profitable for airlines to operate these routes with a very low capacity, or even sometimes with no passengers onboard.

In terms of the airports served by the EAS, there are over 150 of them, with a good portion of them being in Alaska and Hawaii, which makes complete sense. However, there are a good chunk of them in the 48 states, in locations such as Imperial (California), Harrison (Arkansas), or Alpena (Michigan). However, the EAS isn’t without controversy, as it costs the government over $250 million per year; additionally, some of the airports (such as Lancaster or Shenandoah Valley Regional Airport) are within an hour of a medium sized airport, which poses questions as to whether they should be subsidized.

Most of the airlines listed below rely largely or even entirely on the EAS to make a profit, which is also why many of them have such awkward route maps, where they only serve a couple of destinations from one major airports (and then have that at several major international airports).

Cape Air

Cape Air is by far the largest commuter airline in the US, with a fleet of almost 100 aircraft, with likely (counting their Eviation Alice aircraft, of which the number is not public yet) over 100 on order (though most of their current aircraft are quite old). Their main business is out of Boston and around Cape Cod (hence the name) where they serve dozens of local destinations, many of them being vacation destinations such as Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, or Hyannis, though they also serve a bunch of smaller destinations in that area that are funded by the EAS, such as Bar Harbor, Maine. In Boston, they operate out of Terminal C at a single gate, where they codeshare with JetBlue, which also operates out of that terminal. In New England, their second and third largest operations is in Nantucket and in Hyannis, where they serve a bunch of other non-EAS funded destinations such as New York JFK and Westchester.

Their second largest operation is in Puerto Rico, where they serve a few other Caribbean islands, such as Nevis or Culebra, a couple of which are funded by the EAS. Besides New England and Puerto Rico, Cape Air has a few smaller networks around the country, in which they serve destinations which for the most part are subsidized by the EAS. These include a small operation out of Billings, Montana (I know, it’s pretty random) in which they serve a few regional destinations such as Havre or Glendive, and a relatively small base in St. Louis, where they serve four small local cities.

Cape Air’s fleet consists mostly of Cessna 408s, which have nine seats, though the the ninth seat also serves as the co-pilot’s seat, which would be pretty cool to sit in. They also operate a small fleet of (also nine-seater) Britten-Norman Islanders and one Cessna 208. To replace their aging Cessna 408s, they have taken delivery of six (with another 93 on order) brand new Tecnam P2012 Travellers, which also have nine seats (though unfortunately you can’t sit in the cockpit with them). Cape Air will also be the launch customer of the all-electric Eviation Alice, which is planned to be introduced in 2022, also has nine seats, and will make them (unless Harbour Air operates commercial flights with their converted aircraft beforehand), possibly the first commercial operator of an electric aircraft.

Southern Airways Express

Southern Airways Express is another quirky airline that operates almost solely out of EAS contracts. They were founded in 2013, are headquartered in Hernando, Mississippi (which I’m sure 99% of us have never heard of) and operate a fleet of 24 Cessna 208s, along with a duo of Piper PA-31s and a Cessna Citation II for charter flights. They have had a couple of acquisitions over the years; they acquired Sun Air Express back in 2016 and bought Mokulele Airlines last year (listed below), though it still operates as a separate airline.

Southern has a pretty diverse route map, due to their extensive and distinct EAS contracts that make up a majority of their flights. In terms of their route network, it can be roughly split up into three different regions. The first is in the Mid-Atlantic, in which they have two bases: one in Baltimore and one in Pittsburgh. From there, they operate mostly to smaller cities (which they got EAS contracts for) such as Lancaster, Morgantown, or Altoona.

The second is in the Gulf region, in which they have their main base at Dallas Fort Worth Airport (though interestingly, they operate out of a private terminal there, shared with Boutique Air), where they operate mostly to a few destinations within Arkansas. In that same region, they also operate flights to and within Tennessee, along with flights within Florida, such as from West Palm Beach to Tampa and Key West. The final region which they operate in is New England, where they fly a few seasonal flights out of Nantucket.

Mokulele Airlines

Mokulele Airlines, as stated earlier, is owned by Southern Airways Express, and operates flights solely within Hawaii, as well as one flight in California (though it’s operated by Southern). Mokulele has been around since 1994 and exclusively operates the Cessna 208 Grand Caravan, of which they have 12 aircraft. They operate mostly to smaller islands in Hawaii from larger airports such as Honolulu or Kahului which often aren’t able to be served by Hawaiian’s 717s such as Molokai and Lanai, along as to smaller airports on more popular islands such as Hana Airport on Maui or Waimea on Hawaii (which I believe is their only EAS route within Hawaii).

Additionally, Mokulele operates one route within California, which I believe is now technically operated by Southern Airways, which is between Los Angeles International Airport and Imperial County Airport, which (obviously) only exists because of EAS subsidies and is among the quirkiest routes in the US. If you’re wondering where they operate out of at LAX, they fly out of Terminal 6, where they share a gate with Boutique Air, which˙actually is a remote gate; one has to take a small bus to get to the aircraft parked out on the apron. So if you ever see a small red Cessna 208 at LAX, you can be sure that it’s not terribly lost, but actually is just heading to Imperial.

Boutique Air

Boutique Air is very similar to Southern Airways Express, though they do have a much larger fleet. Their route network also mostly relies on EAS contracts, meaning that they have an extremely diverse route network, operating out of dozens of cities, though not having large operations at any of them. Their fleet consists of nearly 30 nine-seater Pilatus PC-12s, which actually is meant to be a corporate aircraft; the interior of the aircraft have private-jet style seating, making the experience seem slightly more exclusive and comfortable, even though prices generally are very reasonable. Additionally, Boutique operates 5 Beechcraft King Air aircraft, which are similar in size, as well as apparently 2 Piaggio P180s (per Wikipedia, though they don’t show up on their website), which is an aircraft that even I haven’t heard of.

I attached Boutique Air’s route map up above, so you can clearly see that it is quite…unique. The airport where they operate the most routes out of is Denver, where they fly out of the regional portion of Terminal A and operate to a combination of EAS routes, such as Cortez and Alamoso, and some non-EAS routes, such as to Telluride. Boutique’s second largest operation, I believe, is out of Dallas, where they operate out of a private terminal on the northern side of the airport and fly to three EAS cities.

Besides that, they have significant operations in the South, and additionally have four completely separate “route networks” where they fly to a single EAS city around the US, which includes their flights to Merced (from LA and Sacramento), their flight to Pendleton (from Portland), their flights to Johnstown (from Baltimore and Pittsburgh), and a flight to Massena (from Boston). As hinted earlier, Boutique Air flies from a combination of private and commercial terminals at the large airports they fly to, with greater information on that on their website.

Air Choice One

I would also group Air Choice one in with Boutique Air and Southern Airways Express, as they have similar business models. Air Choice One is slightly smaller than Boutique Air, as they only have a fleet of 14 aircraft. Their most prevalent aircraft is the Cessna 208 Grand Caravan, of which they operate 12 aircraft, though they do also operate the Beechcraft 1900, which can hold up to 19 passengers. However, in contrast to Boutique Air, Air Choice One is a bit more concentrated in that they operate all of their flights within the midwest, instead of in a hodgepodge of regions in the US.

Air Choice One operates to nine destinations., of which four are “hub” cities and the other four are EAS destinations. Their largest “hub” is at St. Louis International Airport, where they operate to all of their EAS cities besides Mason City, which includes Burlington (Iowa), Fort Dodge, Jackson (TN), and Jonesboro (full disclosure: I also haven’t heard of any of these cities before). Additionally, they also operate to a couple of the four EAS cities from Atlanta, Chicago O’Hare, along with Minneapolis. Additionally, I believe that Air Choice One operates out of the main terminal at their four “hub” airports. Air Choice One also has codeshare agreements with United Airlines and American Airlines, so that one can connect from larger cities from United and American to Air Choice One flights.

Denver Air Connection

Key Lime Air is a small airline based in Colorado, though it currently does business operating as Denver Air Connection. Denver Air Connection is unique in that it operates passenger, charter (which I believe makes up a large portion of their passenger operations), and cargo flights, though their passenger operations are somewhat similar to other airlines mentioned in this list. Their passenger operations include the the 50 seater Embraer E145, the 30 seater Dornier 328 Jet (which is quite rare nowadays, especially in America), the Embraer 120 Brasilia, and the Fairchild Metroliner 23. They additionally operate additional Fairchild Metroliners which are in use exclusively for cargo operations, though I believe that most of their non-commercial service is branded as Key Lime Air.

In terms of their passenger flights, from Denver International Airport, they operate flights to Alliance (Nebraska, EAS), Clovis (New Mexico, also EAS), and Telluride (not EAS). They also operate flights from Denver Centennial Airport to Grand Junction Colorado (not EAS). Additionally, they operate flights between Minneapolis and Thief River Falls Regional Airport, which is operated by their Embraer E145s and would make very little sense if it wasn’t subsidized by the EAS. Denver Air Connection also has an interline agreement with United Airlines, meaning that United passenger can connect to Denver Air Connection flights and vice versa.

Bering Air

Now that Ravn Alaska has gone belly up, I believe that Bering Air is Alaska’s first or second largest regional airline (actually, I believe that Grant Air may have a slightly larger fleet, though Bering Air is more interesting, IMO) and is essential to countless communities in northwestern Alaska. They have been around since 1979 and are based in Nome, Alaska and operate flights exclusively within Northwestern Alaska. Their commercial fleet consists of 10 Cessna 208 Grand Caravans, along with two Beechcraft 1900s, and a few Piper Navajos. Additionally, they operate three Beechcraft King Air 200s, which are used exclusively for emergency medical evacuations. They also operate two CASA 212-200 Aviocars, which are used for small-scale charter cargo operations.

Additionally, Bering Air operates a fleet of helicopters, which are used for charter flights (largely for tours) and to serve smaller villages that don’t have a runway to handle flights, such as to Little Diomede Island, which is about 2.4 miles away from Big Diomede, located a day later in Russia. They operate to 32 towns in Alaska, of which I believe none of them are funded by the EAS, which honestly seems a bit odd to me. Bering Air also has small hubs at Kotzebue‘s and Unalakleet’s airports, where they fly to other towns around northwestern Alaska.

Bering Air additionally operates passenger charter flights to Russia (in addition to charter flights within Alaska), which have been occurring since May of 1988, when Bering Air was the first airline to fly between Alaska and Russia in nearly 41 years. These flights occur on an on-demand basis (that’s the definition of a charter flight) and can fly passengers to Provideniya, Anadyr, Magadan, and Petropavlovsk, along with other destinations which they do not list on their website.

Kenmore Air

Kenmore Air is an airline based near Seattle (in Kenmore, to be more specific!) which mostly operates regional seaplane flights, though they do operate some non-seaplane routes. They are very similar to Harbour Air, which I flew on a tour of Vancouver two years ago, with the only difference being that Harbour Air is based north of the border in Canada. Kenmore Air’s commercial fleet consists of DHC-2 Beavers and DHC-3 Otters, which are used for their seaplane flights, along with three Cessna 208s, which are used for flights on land. They operate both commercial and charter flights, which include flights to neighboring local airports near Seattle and scenic flights, both around Seattle and neighboring points of interest such as St. Helena, the Olympic Peninsula, or the San Juan Islands.

Kenmore Air flies most of their routes out of both the Seattle Lake Union/Kenmore Air Seaplane Base, located on Lake Union in downtown Seattle, which is where most of their commercial flights operate from (list of full destinations attached here) and of which they are the exclusive user of, besides Harbour Air’s lone flight from Vancouver, in addition to out of Kenmore Air Harbor, located on Lake Washington. Additionally, Kenmore Air operates commercial non-seaplane flights out of Boeing Field, where they use their Cessna 208s to fly to Orcas Island Airport and Friday Harbor Airport.

Conclusion

Obviously, there are dozens of other American commuter airlines which I couldn’t cover, such as Ultimate Air Shuttle, Advanced Air, or Surf Air, though I believe that I covered most of the major commuter airlines. There also are a few other regional airlines which are large enough to not be qualified as commuter airlines, though aren’t anywhere near enough to be considered a legacy carrier, such as Silver Airways or the new Eastern Airlines (though I wouldn’t necessarily call that a regional carrier). Overall, there are many, many airlines in the US that not everyone knows of, though most of the airlines covered in this post are still very important, due to the impact they have on serving smaller communities that don’t have the infrastructure to handle larger aircraft.