Pretty soon there will be a whole new way to travel between Boston and New York, and I’m not sure what to make of it.
Continue reading: Tailwind Air Launches Seaplane Flights Between Boston & NYC
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Who knows whether the economics will work, but they’re trying to sell a maximum of 64 one way tickets a day.
This is targeted at a very small market. General takes on travel between NYC-BOS are irrelevant.
I'm shocked this is actually happening. This is one of those "I've been saying this should happen for years" situations. It is undoubtably more expensive than a standard flight, but at the same time you are saving a great deal of time between the commute out to the airport plus wait time until your flight. This services, such as the Uber chopper out to the Hamptons, tend to get bashed on, but they are absolutely popular. I can see this being as well.
While certainly a small aircraft will not have the same safety record as a widebody jetliner, I wouldn't blame the single engine here. Some of those turboprops are pretty darn reliable (like on the PC-12s), and, for much of the flight, this plane has a big, wet runway directly underneath.
yes, fundamentally it's clear that Tailwind is targeting the exact same market/customers, not really anyone else.
Like the routes shelter island, the target audience will likely be more leisure than business travel. Finding 50+ people daily to pay $750+ for this experience in not unreasonable in NY. Little bit faster and good conversation starter when someone asks how your trip was. Can see primary pushback being size of cabin, which is a little cramped.
Tail dive anyone? Sorry. My computer keyboard cannot spell tail. But can spell tale. Thank you Google Chrome for nothing except emptying my wallet of 400 bucks.
I suppose if you really had to get there as quickly as humanly possible. A 1 to 2 hour faster ride than acela for the cost and comfort for speed is probably not on the value side. Post pandemic remote work life not sure this is a sustainable business.
I won't say I'm super-excited, but if they did a route NYC-Baltimore or DC, my ears would certainly be perking up (if only for the novelty factor...).
The key is that it doesn't really have to "scale" much to work. It's not like the Acela, or the Shuttles where you need a couple hundred pax/day...and the pricing is definitely lower than walk-up tix for the LGA shuttles were back pre-pandemic.
Configuration? IFE? Lie flat seats? Business class? Just don’t know if I can consider till I know more.
“personally I’d rather get on a train and be able to work on my laptop for 3.5 hours straight, as getting work done on your laptop in a seaplane doesn’t seem terribly practical”
Lucky please stop with this. If you can’t put away your laptop for 75-mins then you’re not an efficient worker. Nobody believes you’d take Amtrak over a flight.
Anyone care about global warming and air travel. Guess not.
Burn through money burn the planet.
I agree w train travel comment.