Passengers’ Numbers Rising For Cape Air

With residents becoming more comfortable to traveling after COVID concerns, business is steadily improving for Cape Air for its Montana flights.

After having 105,714 enplanements for Montana in January 2021, the figure increased to 109,823 for the month of February and 154,541 for the month of March. Enplanements in May were 174,503 in Montana for Cape Air.

“We are delighted to see people traveling again, and reconnecting with family and friends after such a long year and a half,” Erin Hatzell, marketing and public relations director for Cape Air, said. “Passenger numbers started to improve in late March, and we have seen a steady increase each month.”

For travelers out of Wolf Point’s L.M. Clayton Airport, there were 254 enplanements during January, then 158 in February, 275 in March, 296 in April and 305 in May.

“Overall, we have been very pleased with the recovery here in Montana,” Hatzell said. “Wolf Point passengers continued to fly during the pandemic, but the numbers were obviously much lower than usual.”

During the month of May, Wolf Point’s 305 enplanements ranked second for Eastern Montana’s five Essential Air Service airports. Sidney ranked first with 767 enplanements. Other airports included Glasgow at 300, Havre at 257 and Glendive at 217.

For 2021, Wolf Point is second with 1,288 enplanements compared to Sidney’s 3,178, Glasgow’s 1,187, Havre’s 1,044 and Glendive’s 758. Billings had 7,200 enplanements.

In April, Cape Air introduced the Wolf Point community to Cape Air’s new P2012 Traveller Tecnam plane.

Cape Air joined a partnership with Tecnam. A research and design team, led by award-winning expert Luigi Pascale, with the passenger’s comfort in mind. The large cabin can accommodate up to 11 seats including a maximum of nine passengers. The plane features under- seat storage for passenger to put items including purses in, a cup holder, USB chargers, heat, air conditioning and overhead lights.

“Since introducing our next-generation aircraft, the Tecnam P2012 Traveller, into the Montana market, we have been able to provide customers with a more enjoyable flight experience. Customer feedback has been very positive and we look forward to having our Montana region 100 percent re-fleeted with the Tecnam by the end of 2021,” Hatzell said.

The P2012 is powered by two Lycoming six cylinders’ turbo pistons. It is the first piston aircraft with electronic management of engine power.