Taking Flight, Italian Style

Excursionists headed to Billings can say goodbye to terra firma in style aboard a brand new Tecnam P2012 Traveller.

Cape Air, which provides twice daily flights to and from Wokal Field and Billings Logan International Airport, has purchased 20 Tecnam P2012s for its fleet, which operates in the Northeast, the Midwest, the Caribbean and Montana.

The airline landed a Tecnam P2012 for training purposes at Wokal Field April 6, with regular flights scheduled to begin April 8.

The sleek aircraft is of Italian origin, and offers luxurious accommodations in comparison with the Cessna 402, the main workhorse for Cape Air over the past 30-years.

"The high wing and the big windows – you get a tremendous view of the land you are flying over," said Bill Guinee, fleet manager for Cape Air. "We are very happy to start the service up here with the airplanes for everybody. We are definitely looking forward to sharing it with you."

The 402 series was produced by Cessna from 1966 to 1985 under the name Businessliner, and had between six to ten seats, according to aircraftcompare.com. These unpressurized aircraft were designed with economy in mind, and operated two 325-horsepower Continental TSIO-520-VB Piston engines with a maximum cruising speed of 231 knots, or about 266 miles per hour.

"The 402 still has plenty of life and usefulness in it," Guinee said. "The P2012 will keep us moving along. Passengers will certainly enjoy the new experience. That is what it is all about."

The Tecnam P2012, also unpressurized, can seat up to nine passengers and two crew-members. The aircraft boasts two 375-horsepower Lycoming TEO-540C1A 6-cylinder air-cooled horizontally-opposed turbocharged piston engines. Its max cruising speed is set at 194 knots, or about 223 mph.

"It is a really great experience," said Erin Hatzell, Cape Air Managing director of marketing and public relations. "For those who have flown with us on the 402, our passengers are going to be really excited and happy to have this next gen aircraft."

The new craft was designed with about 30% more capacity in the interior, Hatzell noted, which means plenty of elbowroom and legroom. There also is under-seat storage for carryon baggage, which was not available on the 402.

"Those no longer have to go in the wing," Hatzell said. "There is a cup holder. You have a USB port for charging. You have overseat lighting. It really is just an elevated experience, a lot more comfortable."

Guinee said the pilot or pilots also enjoy major upgrades over the 402.

"The great part of it is the Lycoming engines."

The engines are fully electronically controlled, fuel injected and are equipped with several features to preserve its components in addition to saving fuel.

The SPACE cockpit design is optimized to reduce the pilot's workload and enhance single-pilot performances during operations, according to Tecnam.com.

"It is just such an easy interface with the pilot," Guinee said. "It is all electronically controlled so our workload goes down a little bit. That and the avionics is the true joy of this airplane."

YEARS OF

DEVELOPMENT

The P2012 was developed beginning in July 2011 by Costruzioni Aeronautiche Tecnam, an aircraft manufacturer based in Italy, at the behest of Cape Air.

The P2012 took its maiden flight on July 21, 2016, with Federal Aviation Administration certification awarded in August 2019. Cape Air received its first two aircraft via trans-Atlantic ferry flight in October of that year.

"We currently have a fleet of 76 402s, 20 Tecnam P2012 Travelers and four Britten-Norman BN-2s, which we fly primarily in the Caribbean," Hatzell said. "And, we just signed a purchase order for our next 10 Tecnams last week."

Cape Air initially made a commitment to purchase 20 P2012s, which they have met, Hatzell said.

"It was tricky because of the pandemic, shuffling planes over from Italy. We had a little bit of a holdup."

Cape expects to receive about 20 new P2012s each year, until it takes ownership of about 100 in total, Hatzell said.

The old 402s are sold to private parties or donated to community colleges for training programs, Hatzell noted.

OVERCOMING COVID-19

Just as with the rest of the commercial aviation industry, Cape Air saw a large drop in customers throughout 2020, a result of lockdown restrictions imposed worldwide to slow the spread of COVID-19, Hatzell said.

Yet, Cape Air continued to operate during the lockdowns, Hatzell noted.

"We have remained steady in our flights. We have had a lot of folks travel with us for medical purposes. We have continued our commitment throughout the pandemic to all of our communities and that is something we really take pride in."

The main goal of Cape Air, Hatzell said, is to keep our communities connected.

"The main part of our service out here ... is it is part of essential air service to provide transportation to rural areas. We are really proud we have been able to do that."

It appears the industry is recovering, Hatzell said, with passenger numbers starting to tick back up.

"We are really positive. Businesses, we don't expect to really come back as early as everything else, but people want to get out and travel. They want to take a vacation. I know I do. We are excited to introduce this plane right before the summer season and get everybody really excited about getting to Billings or beyond."

From Billings, Valley County residents can catch connecting flights to locales anywhere around the globe, Hatzell said.

"Cape Air has partnerships with all of the major airlines, so the beautiful thing about flying on us is you can check your bag here in Glasgow and meet it in Tokyo, as long you book your ticket on the same itinerary. For customers just wanting to travel to Billings, book it on Capeair.com. For passengers going beyond, Orbitz is kind of the best way to go about that."

Flights start at $29 each way, Hatzell said, including all bag taxes and fees. Wokal Field also offers free parking for travelers.

For the money and time saved, flying to Glasgow sure beats taking the long way around by car, Hatzell said.

"Would your rather sit in a car for 3.5 to 4 hours to get to Billings or hop on a flight for an hour? We all haven't had vacation in a while. Use your vacation time wisely. Spend less time on the road and more time doing what you want to do and enjoying your vacation. If you are going for an extended stay or a quick trip, it is kind of a no brainer."

As an added benefit, travelers likely will not have to worry about running into any deer up in the sky, although flying reindeer might be an issue on Christmas Eve.