Report No: 2022-804
Dear folks,
Welcome to this brand new series where I originally intended to fly 3 different US domestic products which I have never flown before but schedule changes and cancellations ruined the original plan of the trip so I had to make some modifications on my mini side trip within the United States of America.
The last report of this series would be the continuation flight from Altoona, PA to Baltimore, MD onboard the Boutique Air Pilatus PC-12, which is also a route that was part of the Essential Air Service program and was terminated in September 2022 after Contour Air got the EAS rights to/from Altoona.
So the original itinerary for this trip was as following, but flight #2 had been cancelled, which required a change to the itinerary.
Flight routing
- 1G4 2581 Washington Dulles to Nashville ( Economy Class ), Airbus A320
- 2MX 521 Nashville to Hartford ( Nicest Class ), Airbus A220-300
- 3WN 2264 Hartford to Baltimore ( Economy Class ), Boeing 737-700
However the actual itinerary is as below
Flight routing
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 44B 846 Altoona to Baltimore ( Economy Class ), Pilatus PC-12
Loads for this flight
50% - 4 out of 8 seats were occupied today
ALTOONA BLAIR COUNTY AIRPORT - AOO
After arriving from my previous flight, I was directed to the departures hall, which only had some tables, seats and a vending machine that only sold drinks. There is not much to do at this airport ( at least airside ).
Here is my boarding pass for this flight
Boarding had started 25 minutes before scheduled departure time and onboard today, there were 3 passengers and 1 standby pilot on the passenger cabin.
4B 846 ALTOONA BLAIR COUNTY AIRPORT TO BALTIMORE THURGOOD MARSHALL AIRPORT
This time, I took a seat at the 3rd row which still had decent legroom, although, I would like to mention that this aircraft needed deep cleaning as the seats seemed filthy.
Before takeoff, our co-pilot has made a small speech regarding safety announcements and handed soft drinks and snacks for those passengers who would like.
The cabin is pretty small and does have the mood of a private jet.
Similar to the earlier leg, we were cleared earlier than our scheduled departure time, so engines were started 20 minutes earlier than planned.
The taxi to the runway was pretty short
And shortly later, we have took off
A photo after takeoff
Boutique Air doesn't offer any inflight entertainment and it is strictly forbidden to use mobile phones onboard with the cellular function open, thus the only remaining entertainment option for this flight was the safety card.
Of course, it is possible to use personal devices on airplane mode, as well as the scenery was beautiful for this flight.
We have started our descent shortly after our takeoff since the duration of the flight was pretty short.
Some photos while descending
The M&T Bank Stadium, which was a nominee to be one of the host stadiums for the for the FIFA World Cup in 2026
Although, this stadium was not included in the final list for that competition.
A photo of BWI
Beautiful housing just next to the water
And, we have landed 25 minutes before our scheduled arrival time into BWI.
Air Canada A320 at a remote stand which I was surprised to see since AC only flies regional jets to BWI
A photo of the international concourse, which had an Air Senegal A330-900neo, as well as an Atlas Air freighter jet at the back.
Play A321neo
Shortly later we have parked at the D concourse.
BALTIMORE THURGOOD MARSHALL AIRPORT - BWI
And disembarkation was pretty quick after we have arrived at our stand
The commuter area which Boutique Air uses was pretty empty with no other passengers other than the ones arriving from our flight in sight.
However, after taking the escalators upstairs, the terminal becomes to get crowded as a usual airport terminal.
Another photo of this Play A321neo
Since BWI was my final destination for the day, it was time to exit the terminal so I followed signs to Ground Transportation.
Just after I arrived at the arrivals level curbside, I was lucky that the shuttle to the Amtrak/MARC train station was already there, so I quickly boarded it.
After a short ride, I was already at the train station.
As I was going to head towards south to Washington DC, I have crossed the overpass to Platform 1 and started to wait for the next train.
And since I was traveling on the opposite direction of the peak passenger traffic during evenings, the train was empty and I had a smooth ride with the commuter train.
And this journey has ended after this train ride, thus this series have come to an end.
I hope you have enjoyed this series. I would be continuing to share more Flight-Report's in the near future so stay tuned.
Thanks for reading and please feel free to leave a comment below!
Hi Istflyer,
For an airliner that promoted quite heavily on having the feeling of being in a private jet on these shorter routes, the state of the cabin was abysmal in terms of cleaning... Guess that promotion can also backfire on them somehow.
Thanks for sharing this unique report :). Can't say that there are a lot of PC12's being used for flight routes.
Hi Thomas and thanks for stopping by,
- Indeed yes, the cabin looked like it was never cleaned for a very long time and it would have a negative effect on people; however, their EAS operations are reduced significantly compared to previous years, so they might be eventually failing and flying these routes to fulfill their contracts.
- You're most welcome
Hey! What a great avgeek experience. This is the kind of flight I definitely want to add to my log next time I'm in the US. A shame for such a poorly maintained cabin but at least this flight was on time and granted really nice view. The train ride also looks pretty smooth.
Thanks for sharing this interesting report.
Hi there and welcome to this Flight-Report,
- Yes, this flight was in my log for a long time and finally it happened.
- Indeed, the flight was early and had beautiful views due to our low cruising altitude but the condition of the cabin was horrible in terms of cleaning but still great in terms of comfort.
- Almost no passengers and a quiet ride for a weekday evening which I doubt will happen anywhere in Europe on a route passing through an airport.
- You're most welcome :)