On my Getting to Acadia page on my Discover-Acadia site, I talk about how easy it is to get to Acadia by hopping a shuttle flight from Boston’s Logan Airport to the little Bar Harbor-Hancock County Airport just off Mt. Desert Island in a little town called Trenton. But I just read today that that may change in the near future.

It seems that Colgan Air, which is a carrier for US Airways Express that uses 19-seaters to get people to Acadia, is upgrading its fleet of planes to  all 34-seaters. That’s a problem for the Trenton Airport, because legally, it can only accommodate planes that seat 30 passengers or less. So the new Colgan Air planes won’t be able to land there.

The airport is left with the following choices:

• look for a new commuter carrier that uses smaller planes
• upgrade their facilities and licensing, which could cost as much as $2 million
• go out of business

None of those avenues would be an easy road. Essential Air Service (EAS), a federal program enacted to guarantee commercial air service to small communities, could be asked to provide a new scheduled carrier. But, airport manager Bob Cossette points out that with the economic downturn in the US airline industry, a replacement may not be forthcoming. He goes on to point out that 14 EAS markets in the US have not found replacements after losing their original carriers.

I’ll try to keep my readers posted in this blog, as things develop. And of course, you’ll still be able to fly into Bangor and catch a bus, taxi or rental car to Mt. Desert Island. But getting to Acadia may just get harder in the near future.

Read the full article in the Ellsworth American paper online

Best,
Kathi