HYANNIS — Commuters, tourists and local residents will have another choice on how to get to and from Nantucket after Southern Airways Express announced Wednesday it will offer flights between Hyannis and the island.
Starting April 17, the airline have two flights a day between Barnstable Municipal Airport and Nantucket Memorial Airport on the weekends. Come high season, there will be as many as three daily round trips aboard Southern Airways' Cessna Grand Caravans.
And although the airline wants to carry tourists between the summer hot spots, it says it also wants to help residents get around.
"To make this route work, we really need to capture the local community," Mark Cestari, the airline's chief commercial officer, said. "We need to be a service to them ... We want to be your hometown airline."
Flights will take about 20 minutes, and tickets will start at $69.
The company is relatively young, founded in 2013, but runs commuter flights across the country. It first dipped into the local market last year when it offered flights from Norwood and Providence to Nantucket.
The airline was looking to expand and explored a handful of new destinations before landing on Hyannis.
On the Hyannis-Nantucket route, Southern Airways will have to compete chiefly with Cape Air, which has been flying to Nantucket for decades. Rectrix started regular flights across Nantucket Sound in 2016 but suspended commercial flights last year. Island Airlines used to offer several daily flights but folded in 2015.
Ferries also will compete for passengers, but Cestari said he was confident that Southern Airways Express could carve out a niche for itself.
Getting more flights out of the Barnstable airport is a big deal, airport manager Katie Servis said.
"We are more than thrilled that they chose Hyannis," she said.
The airport has been trying to bring in another airline to give people an additional option when trying to get on and off the Cape.
"One of our four business plan goals was to improve our air service to the Cape Cod community," she said.
The airport's counterparts on Nantucket were also excited about the prospect.
"We are thrilled with the return of, and continued investment by, Southern Airways in the Nantucket community," Thomas Rafter, manager of Nantucket Memorial Airport, said.
The addition of Hyannis could be the first step for Southern Airways, and Cestari hinted at further expansion on the horizon.
"Katie (Servis) and I have talked about some of the other market opportunities out of here, and if we are successful this summer we obviously will look at doing some other things from here," Cestari said.
Follow Ethan Genter on Twitter: @EthanGenterCCT.
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