Flying is a choice, and we know you have several options when getting to the islands of Penobscot Bay. We want to acknowledge that the price changes enacted over the last few years have made relying on air taxi services prohibitively expensive. With the changes in ownership, now is a good time to revisit pricing and services. Basically, we want to win back your business and your trust.
To do so, we are releasing a new price list for the winter 2023-2024 season. We are removing the 2-person minimums, effectively halving the cost for single-person flights and reducing the price of multiple-passenger trips by around 40%. We believe this will make us more competitive with other transportation options.
We are also pricing islands differently in terms of flight time. It’s a shorter flight to Vinalhaven than Islesboro, which should be reflected in the cost.
Lastly, we are reducing our charter rates from Portland, Bangor, and other regional airports direct to the islands, give us a call and we will be happy to price out your next flight.
Sunday Funday Grocery Run
Next, we are going to run an experiment called the Sunday Funday Grocery Run from December 3rd – March 31st. (Saturday the 23rd, as we are off on Christmas Eve). The Sunday Funday Grocery Run is a scheduled freight flight from Owls Head to Matinicus and Vinalhaven at 3:15 pm each Sunday. PIA will make free in-town pickup runs to Hannaford and other stores as requested.
Price:
- Flat rate: $15 per banana box
- $0.5 dollars per pound for any loose items
- Free in-town pickups (Rockland)
- Out-of-town pickups are at $25 per hour.
Note that these prices are only for this freight flight.
How:
- Place an order with Hannaford To-Go by selecting the Rockland store and a pickup time of 2 PM. Please ask for Banana Boxes and make a note that PIA will be picking them up, so orders are grouped together for us.
- Use same-day delivery at Home Depot or Lowes and please have them delivered either Saturday or Sunday before Noon.
- Use Instacart for delivery to PIA.
- Contact dispatch for any other pickups. Note that pickup requests must be called in before 11 am.
If the weather is sour, groceries and freight will be delivered on the next flyable day.
These are two small steps, we hope in the right direction, toward making PIA work for the islands. This spring, we will release a new version of this site to make booking flights easier and continue improving our services.
Feedback is always welcome; shoot a note to feedback@penobscotislandair.net.
