You can’t buy a ticket for the flight, but Cape Air, a major regional carrier serving small cities in North America is now flying regularly (sort of) from Capua in Southern Italy to its home base at Hyannis, Massachusetts. The flights are bringing the airline’s new custom-designed planes from the factory in Italy.
The Tecnam P2012 Traveler is a design collaboration between the Italian maker and Cape Air, which presently is flying 84 Cessna 402s, all of which will be retired as Cape Air gets its full compliment of up to 110 of the new planes. First flights, from Boston to Rutland, VT, will start in December. Cape Air serves clusters of cities in New England, the Midwest, Montana and the Caribbean.
Each delivery requires a 4,600-mile flight with multiple hops. Some of the seating is removed to make room for auxiliary fuel tanks. The plane is not pressurized for high-altitude flying, and the crew must wear full safety suits with oxygen on hand. The flights take place at a maximum of 13,500 feet, way below the calmer altitudes at which airliners operate.
The route takes the plane to Groningen, Netherlands, then Inverness, Scotland, Keflavik, Iceland, Narsarsuaq, Greenland, Goose Bay, Labrador and finally to Hyannis.
Tecnam managing director, and chief pilot of the first flight, told press “It was an exciting experience. I could never find the right words to [fully] express it.”
