Maine Air Charter Operator Realizes Shuttle Opportunity

MAC Air Group—the parent company of Maine Aviation Charter, Maine Aviation Aircraft Maintenance and MAC Aircraft Sales—announced fleet additions and a recently launched corporate shuttle service today at the 2015 NBAA Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference in San Jose, Calif.

Using a Challenger 850 equipped for 15 passengers, the shuttle service flies on Fridays from New York to the Bahamas, then returns on Sundays. “We are seeing high demand with passenger numbers of up to 15, making the most of the convenient point-to-point service,” said MAC Air Group president Allyn Caruso. “We are already looking at other areas for this type of service.”

Meanwhile, the Portland, Maine-based company’s charter operation added five aircraft during the past nine months, including another Challenger 850, Sierra Super-modified Citation SII, Falcon 2000, Hawker 800 and Hawker 800XP. The Falcon and Hawkers are based in Boca Raton, Fla.; the Challenger 850 in Newburgh, N.Y.; and the Citation in Portland.

The company's charter fleet is averaging 35 to 45 hours per month per aircraft, according to Caruso. “We’ve seen an upturn in the longer-range flights, which has driven an increase in our charter hours,” he said. “We anticipate that 2015 will be even busier.”