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A Tailwind Air Cessna Grand Caravan EX Amphibian.
Tailwind Air has ceased operating its seaplane service connecting Boston and New York, saying it wasn’t profitable.
Originally an on-demand charter operator, Tailwind launched the scheduled commuter service in 2021 using eight-passenger Cessna Grand Caravan EX Amphibians. The seasonal operation flew passengers between the New York Skyports Seaplane Base on Manhattan’s east waterfront and Tailwind’s own seaplane base in Boston Harbor. It also flew from Boston to Nantucket and Provincetown, and from Manhattan to the Hamptons on Long Island.
The Boston Globe first reported that Tailwind had stopped the seaplane service, which was not formally announced. Tailwind CEO Alan Ram told the newspaper that the operation wasn’t profitable, and that his attempt to bring on a partner this summer had not been successful.
Ram said he planned to continue running a charter operation and expressed hope that a seaplane service could return in 2025.
Messages left with Tailwind Air were not returned. An attorney who represents the company did not immediately reply to an inquiry.
In its February 2021 application to the U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) for commuter air carrier authority, Tailwind Air LLC was described as a wholly owned subsidiary of Tailwind Air Service LLC, which Ram founded in Virginia in 2012. The subsidiary’s principal owners were Ram with a 50.1% voting interest and President and Chief Pilot Shane Reynolds with 10.9%.
At the time of the application, Tailwind was operating as an air taxi operator under DOT Part 298 and on-demand charter operator under FAA Part 135. It conducted commercial flights using a leased Dassault Falcon 50 and six managed aircraft—a Cessna Caravan Amphibian, two Dassault Falcon 900s and three Daher TBM 700s. It planned to add four additional aircraft to its Part 135 certificate.
Before stopping its scheduled seaplane service, Tailwind also had ambitions to become a regional operator of amphibious electric aircraft. In December 2021, the company signed a letter of interest with Airflow.aero to acquire 20 Airflow Model 200 electric short takeoff and landing (eSTOL) aircraft. Tailwind planned to fly a float-equipped version of the Model 200 and would have been Airflow’s floatplane launch customer for the Mid-Atlantic and New England region.
Hybrid-electric aircraft developer Electra.aero acquired Airflow in June 2022.
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