New England Airlines

N404WB At Block Island State Airport
IATA ICAO Call sign EJ NEA NEW ENGLAND
Founded	1970
AOC #	NEAA703G[1]
Operating bases	Westerly State Airport
Fleet size	10
Destinations	2
Parent company	New England Airlines, Inc.
Headquarters	Westerly, Rhode Island, U.S.
Key people	William Bendokas (President)
Website	blockislands-airline.com

New England Airlines is aregional airline based inWesterly, Rhode Island, U.S. With a main base atWesterly State Airport, it provides scheduled service toBlock Island and operates charters to other airports along the Northeast coast.

The airline was established and started operations in 1970.^[2] New England Airlines has been in continuous service since then, under the same private ownership. It was and is the only scheduled airline with its primary bases of operation in Rhode Island. This was designed to fulfill the loss of service from a short-lived airline called Viking Airways, which folded in the 1960s.^[3]The airline is noted for its provision of cargo delivery services, including Chinese food (and other restaurant orders) delivered from the mainland to the Block Island airport in as little as 90 minutes.^[4] The airline only has a half dozen pilots during the winter and over a dozen during the summertime. According to the owner, half of the business comes from charter requests for business workers in the New York area and other locations along the northeast coast.^[3]The airline has 10 Aircraft, N401WB, N403WB, N404WB, N409WB, N304SK, N408WB, N405WB and others. as said in an interview with a pilot, "We use these [BN-2s] for charter flights too." and "Those are used for training" (referring to N304SK and another yellow aircraft).

The airline offers a commuter card for discounted rates,^[5] as well as charter service throughout the greater Northeast region, not just to and from Block Island.^[6]

City	Airport	IATA Code	Destinations	Notes
Rhode Island
New Shoreham	Block Island State Airport	BID	Westerly	Only route they do.
Westerly	Westerly State Airport	WST	Block Island	Only route they do.

The New England Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft:^[7][2]

• November 28, 1989: BN-2 Islander, N127JL, flying to Westerly crashed into the sea 3 to 5 miles northwest of Block Island. All 8 people on board, 7 passengers and pilot John Beck Jr., were killed. Among the victims, Shirley Wood, was the publisher and co-editor of The Block Island Times, founding editor of People magazine, and former chief of research for Time Life Books.^[8] The flight proceeded under a cloud layer on a moonless night while aSIGMET was in effect for moderate to occasionally severeturbulence and possible low levelwind shear. The reason for the crash was undetermined.^[9][10]
• September 5, 1999: A Piper Cherokee PA-32-260, N4830S, departing Westerly on a scheduled flight to Block Island lost control and crashed shortly after takeoff, killing two passengers and the pilot; two passengers survived with serious injuries.^[11] Pilot Michael Hadik was described as a skilled pilot and flight instructor, with 5259 hours total and 202 in the Cherokee.^[12] The NTSB final report determined the cause of the crash was loss of control and stall during a turn.^[13]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toNew England Airlines.

• New England Airlines

• Regional airlines of the United States
• Regional Airline Association members
• Companies based in Rhode Island
• Transportation in Washington County, Rhode Island
• Airlines established in 1970
• Airlines based in Rhode Island
• 1970 establishments in Rhode Island
• American companies established in 1970

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