Starting Sept. 13, Tailwind Air is adding a new destination to its current offerings. Flights on Tailwind Air’s amphibious float-equipped Cessna Grand Caravans will now connect Manhattan’s Skyport Marina at East 23rd Street to Washington, D.C., via the GA airport at College Park, Maryland (KCGS), just a short walk to subway service into Washington at the College Park Metro station (Green Line) and MARC train station. The flights are expected to take 80 to 90 minutes, and Tailwind says they represent “the only scheduled air service inside the Beltway [excepting Reagan Washington National Airport—KDCA].”
Alan Ram, CEO and co-founder of Tailwind Air, said, “Bypassing the congestion of the northeast corridor between New York and Washington, D.C., remains the core mission of Tailwind Air. This new D.C. service complements our existing groundbreaking service between Manhattan and Boston Harbor as well as our numerous summer destinations in the Hamptons [Long Island, New York] and Provincetown [Cape Cod, Massachusetts].”
To stoke interest in its latest route, Tailwind is offering a “buy one seat, and a companion flies with you free” promotion. The offer is available at flytailwind.com until Sept. 10 for flights through Dec. 21. To book, enter promo code “TWDCBOGO” on the website. And as usual, “some restrictions apply.”
KCGS is the world’s oldest operating airport AND is inside the Washington Flight Restricted Zone. Pilots have to be specially vetted to fly in or out.
Getting vetted to fly in/out of the Circle of Doom to the DC3 airports is not as onerous as it was 20 years ago when I jumped through the hoops.
Flying to College Park is a very convenient way to visit Washington, D.C. From a business perspective I think Tailwind is smart to offer this service. But from a private pilot point-of-view, I worry about the (potential) increased security at the College Park FBO. Will I face scrutiny from a TSA agent when my daughter and I next fly to D.C.?
I’ve been to some airports that have a red-bordered TSA zone for ‘civilian’ traffic with a separate FBO entrance for GA traffic. College Park is pretty small so I’m curious (and a little apprehensive) as to where and how they’ll find the room to keep the two worlds apart.
KPDK has flights using a much larger jet. The flights are semi scheduled. They operate more like a charter service.
What outfit is that? If it’s a charter service then it would operate more GA than an airline with regards to TSA rules.
The TSA zone doesn’t need a lot of space – just some pavement area at least. Check out the Google sat photo of Provincetown. The FBO is shared, and just has two exits – one into the TSA “secure zone” and the other to a walkway around it.