Washington’s Dash Air Shuttle secures three Cessna 402Cs

Dash Air Shuttle (Port Angeles) has acquired three Cessna (twin piston) 402(C)s from Cape Air (9K, Hyannis) and aims to start commercial flights between Port Angeles and Seattle Tacoma Int’l later this quarter. N818AN (msn 402C0501), N660CA (msn 402C0406), and N5826C (msn 402C0050) were ferried from Hyannis via Madison, WI and Great Falls to Port Angeles over the course of June 28-30, RadarBox ADS-B data shows.

Dash president Clint Ostler told the Sequim Gazette that the start-up is a Pacific Northwest-based airline aiming to restore affordable, high-frequency service in short-haul markets across the US Pacific Northwest. It aims to use the nine-seaters to operate up to five daily return flights between Port Angeles and Seattle Tacoma by the end of August. However, the timeline is contingent on the Cessna Aircraft Company twins passing US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) aircraft conformity inspections. The flights themselves will be operated by Backcountry Aviation of Boulder, Colorado.

According to Ostler, while the near-40-year-old Cessnas will suffice, for now, Dash Air is planning to shift to lower-cost electric-propulsion aircraft within five years.

Dash Air Shuttle is the brainchild of employees of Embark Aviation, a Washington DC-based airline management consultancy that will manage Dash, Ostler, who is also a vice president of Embark, told Peninsula Daily News. Funding for the start-up air service is being assisted with a USD200,000 grant from the US Department of Transportation’s Small Community Air Service Development program and USD133,000 from the Port of Port Angeles.

“The Port is excited to welcome Dash Air Shuttle. Regaining commercial air service has been in our strategic plan for several years. Flights to Seattle are key for future economic development in our region, and we look forward to partnering with Dash to serve our community,” Steven Burke, commission president at Port of Port Angeles, said in a statement.

Kenmore Air, the last carrier to operate regular flights to Port Angeles, a city located along the northern edge of Washington state’s Olympic Peninsula, did so to Seattle Boeing Field until November 2014.