Trip Report: Flying to JetBlue’s First Essential Air Service Community

Earlier this year, JetBlue won the Essential Air Service (EAS) contract for the community of Presque Isle, Maine, continuing the trend of airlines winning these contracts using larger aircraft with less frequency.

Presque Isle has always been one of the more expensive subsidy contracts in the lower 48 and that continues to be true with JetBlue. When United served the airport, its annual subsidy rate for the most recent contract was just over $10.8 million a year. For JetBlue, it’s just over $10.4 million for the first year and just over $11.2 million for the second year.

United served the community of Presque Isle 12 times a week with 50-seat CRJ-550s, meaning it had about 600 seats a week offered to passengers. JetBlue has once-daily flights on board the E190 which seats 100, meaning the airline offers 700 seats a week.

Plus, after the first year of service, JetBlue will be retiring its Embraer E190 aircraft and will begin to serve Presque Isle with the larger and much more modern Airbus A220 which seats 140. Once they go up to that larger aircraft, it will have 980 seats a week.

Day of the Flight

On the day of the flight, I connected from another JetBlue flight so I was in Boston with more than enough time, which also meant I didn’t have to go through security again, and this is true for every flight out of the airport as all gates are now connected on the secure side thanks to a bus and pathways. A couple of hours before the flight, the airline started setting up the podium, balloons, cupcakes, and lemonade.

JetBlue’s departure board for the inaugural flight to Presque Isle (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)

The carrier pulled our plane over from the hangar as it had been sitting in Boston since the night before. It was an Embraer E190 that carried the registration of N273JB and was delivered to the airline in June of 2007. JetBlue was the launch customer for the Embraer E190.

About an hour or so before departure, there were speeches, as well as a giveaway which JetBlue does at the start of all of their flights to new destinations. They pulled two seat numbers out of a hat and gave two random passengers round-trip tickets to any of its destinations.

The painting JetBlue commissioned for the first flight to Presque Isle (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)

Up at the podium was also a painting that the airline commissions for every new destination. There was also a ribbon-cutting just before boarding the aircraft, and I even managed to snag part of the ribbon for my collection.

A ribbon cutting in Boston for JetBlue’s inaugural to Presque Isle (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)

On board, the airplane was laid out in the typical 2-2 configuration just like all of the carrier’s E190 aircraft. The IFE and interiors also haven’t been updated since they were delivered to the airline in the early 2000s.

At everyone’s seat was a flag as well as a postcard that was a miniature version of the painting out in the gate area.  My seat was 18D, a window on the right side of the aircraft. Pushback and takeoff with a special message from the pilot, and some of the flight attendants, a handful of which were from the northern Maine region or had a connection to the area, making it an extra special flight for them.

A flag and a postcard on all of our seats when we got onto the aircraft (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)

While we were taxiing out, there was a line of about 20 to 30 JetBlue employees waving us off on our inaugural flight which was a nice touch, especially being that this is such a small city. After a couple of minutes of taxiing, we took to the skies and turned north towards JetBlue’s first Essential Air Service community.

JetBlue employees waving at us as we taxied out (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)

Once in the air, the crew started their famous JetBlue service of brand-named snacks, and I chose pop chips, as well as pretzels. Midflight there wasn’t much in terms of celebrations, but that didn’t matter as it was such a short flight with it being under an hour. We passed over the Maine coastline as well as a few other small airports along the way.

Flying over the water towards Presque Isle (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)

It wasn’t long before we were landing in Presque Isle. The airport uses a CTAF which is common for small airports and stands for common traffic advisory frequency, and essentially means that aircraft say where they are and what they are doing on a frequency so everybody can hear it, versus somebody in a tower telling them where to go and what to do.

JetBlue in Presque Isle for the first time (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)

We landed in Presque Isle, Maine at 4:10 p.m. local time after just 53 minutes of flying from Boston.

When we got inside the terminal, there was an even bigger party than there was in Boston. However, that does make sense, as this is the first mainline-sized aircraft to have scheduled service to the airport here since 1979, the year right after the Airline Deregulation Act was put into effect.

A band at the inaugural party in Presque Isle (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)

They gave every passenger getting off a goodie bag, and inside of it was maple syrup made in northern Maine, potato chips made in northern Maine, JetBlue mints as well as a t-shirt, a hat, chapstick, and a small pin that says Maine as well, and they even had a band.

The party in Presque Isle for the JetBlue inaugural (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)

There were also two different food tables with everything ranging from soda and dessert to hot food and sandwiches. This was a major party put on by a small community and it was so fun to attend with the terminal absolutely packed with excited travelers and locals as well. Given that it wasn’t in the secure area of the airport anyone from the town could attend and it definitely looked like a handful did.

A bunch of people spoke here as well, including leaders from the city of Presque Isle, the county, as well as the airline. The speeches lasted roughly 30 minutes, and following that they had another ribbon cutting. Once all of the speeches were over and the party started to disperse, it was about 5:40 p.m., and I went to my hotel to get some sleep for the flight back to Boston early the next morning.

The ribbon cutting in Presque Isle (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)

The Next Day

The next morning, I arrived about an hour and 15 minutes before departure time. Even though it is a small city, you still need to obey the airline’s cut-off time for check-in as those apply everywhere they operate no matter the size of the airport.

Presque Isle airport the morning of my flight (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)

The check-in area looked just like any other JetBlue counter, just a lot smaller in size, and is probably the smallest ticket counter area in its network. Security had a pre-check lane, which is always a good thing even in small airports where lines are nonexistent.

My seat back to Boston was 8D, which was a window towards the front of the aircraft although the window was a bit misaligned, and sat farther forward.

The pilot made another special announcement for this inaugural departure out of Presque Isle. We took to the sky and flew directly south towards Boston. The return flight was also uneventful and was just like any other JetBlue flight in its network.

Taking off out of Presque Isle, south towards Boston (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)

We landed at Boston just after 7 a.m. following just over an hour and three minutes flight time, and taxied into the gate for an on-time arrival. Presque Isle is also known for its harsh winter weather, and United struggled with this especially operating out of Newark.

A video trip report of this flight can be found below:

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Joey Gerardi

Joey has always been interested in planes for as long as he can remember. He grew up in Central New York during the early 2000s when US Airways Express turboprops ruled the skies. He was so excited when he could drive by himself and the first thing he did with the license was get ice cream and go plane spotting for the entire day. He specializes in topics surrounding the Essential Air Service (EAS) program. He graduated from WMU with a degree in Aviation Management and Operations in 2022 and now works for a major airline.

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