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'Scenic Airlines' is an American airline based in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. It operates sightseeing flights and is based at Boulder City Airport ^[1].

Contents

History

Scheduled Sightseeing Destinations

Incidents and accidents

Fleet

External links

References

History

''Scenic Airlines'' was originally started during the 1930s, with the idea of giving passengers views of the Grand Canyon. It was named "Scenic Airways". In time, ''Scenic Airways'' failed, and it went bankrupt. In 1967, after Las Vegas's scene had been reinvigorated by the presence of hotels and casinos, the airline was revived, as Scenic Airlines and operated flights with a relatively low profile.
During the 1990s, the airline saw much economic growth, opening overseas offices in such places as Argentina and Japan, among other countries, and expanding services to Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix and other large, regional airports. The services to Phoenix would later be moved to Scottsdale Municipal Airport, Scenic becoming the only commercial airline into that airport. During the late 1990s, Scenic introduced in-flight descriptions of the places they overflew on sightseeing flights in eight different languages.
In August 1998, Eagle Canyon Airlines acquired the operations of Scenic Airlines (except the Page, Arizona tour division) and its Twin Otter aircraft, but retained the Scenic Airlines name .
In spring 2006, the airline announced it would be ceasing scheduled passenger operations to focus on its sightseeing flights, citing rising fuel costs, thus abandoning its scheduled services using its fleet of three Raytheon Beech 1900 aircraft. Almost all of the scheduled service routes were Essential Air Service routes and have been picked up by US Airways, operated by Air Midwest. Since it serves many out-of-the-way airports, Scenic was often the largest or only tenant.
==Destinations^[2]==

Scheduled Flight Destinations

★ Arizona

★
★ Grand Canyon (Grand Canyon National Park Airport)

★ Nevada

★
★ Boulder City (Boulder City Municipal Airport)

Scheduled Sightseeing Destinations

★ Grand Canyon

★ Monument Valley

★ Bryce Canyon

★ Yosemite

Incidents and accidents

Since 1962, Scenic Airlines and its predecessor have experienced six accidents and two incidents.^[3] Three accidents have resulted in fatalities:

★ October 16, 1971 (NTSB LAX72AL024): A flight from Las Vegas, Nevada to the Grand Canyon crashed while attempting to turn away from poor weather conditions on a sightseeing tour. All aboard were killed, including nine passengers and the pilot.

★ November 30, 1975 (NTSB OAK76AP029): A flight from Ely, Nevada to Elko, Nevada crashed in poor weather due to improper IFR procedures. The pilot and the sole passenger were killed.

★ July 21, 1980 (NTSB DCA80AA021): A Phoenix, Arizona-bound flight experienced engine failure on take-off due to foreign material, improper maintenance, and improper procedures. All eight persons aboard (seven passengers and one crew member) were killed.

Fleet

As of August 2006 the Scenic Airlines fleet includes ^[4] :

★ 11 De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter Series 300

External links

★ Scenic Airlines

References

1. Flight International 12-18 April 2005
2. Scenic Airlines schedule
3. NTSB database search by airline, 1962-2007
4. Flight International, 3-9 October 2006