The State of PIA - August 2025
I wanted to take a moment to discuss the current state of PIA, where we have been, and what we have planned for next year.
As a brief historical note, we acquired Waters Aero-Marine in late October 2023. We view the business as operating in seasons, with the high season lasting from June 15th to September 15th each year, and the rest of the year spent supporting full-time residents and preparing for the next high season. As we are starting to close out our second high season, it’s a good time to stop and reflect.
The first season was about learning; we lowered the pricing and gained insight into how the place operated. This year, we began making changes, so I wanted to discuss that a bit.
2025
In the summer of 2025, we began with operational improvements and investments. The largest change was the addition of the Robin R. Historically, if fog or weather conditions arose, we were unable to transport customers to their final destination. Customers never booked further out than the forecast. We can now give people a bit more peace of mind, knowing that we can get them to their final destination regardless of the weather. I appreciate George Tarkleson's trust, as we carry the torch he lit.
We’ve also added a wharf in the Matinicus Harbor. Scheduling the water taxi in and out of the harbor has been a challenge, as we were only able to arrive 3 hours on either side of high tide. The float allows us to get in at most tides, the winch lets us handle heavy freight, and the ramp prevents grandparents from having to climb a slick ladder on the steamboat wharf.
We fully intend to run the boat more often next season and visit more islands. A big thank you to all the captains who ran this year, including Stan, Andrew, Steve, Chris, and OG George.
Dispatch has always been the bottleneck of the entire operation. There was a single paper calendar that held all reservations (and your credit card numbers). It could only be updated by a single person at a time and from a single location. The dispatcher's primary job is safety. They flight follow, ensuring they know the location and who is on board every plane at all times. Anything that takes away from their primary responsibility is a risk. We had to change how we were handling reservations, and as the old adage goes, the best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best is now.
In May, we began rolling out a homegrown platform to manage reservations online, and by mid-June, we had completely eliminated the use of paper. I won't say this went smoothly. I’ve written a lot of software, and the first deployment is never as smooth as expected. I appreciate all of you working with us during this transition.
I can tell you it’s getting better. If you’ve booked a flight via email or have spoken with Matt, Chelsea, Alane, or me, that’s because the primary dispatcher was busy and we are able to support your flight without needing to be at the main desk. The pilots now have real-time access to their schedules and passenger lists. We can predict tach times for better plane management. The future is bright, and I think we are through the worst of it, fingers crossed.
Between all the phone systems issues and a new team in dispatch, it’s been immensely helpful to distribute this work across many. Excited for this team to continue to ramp.
Our maintenance department was a challenge last year. We had only one plane operational on the 4th of July weekend due to a staff shortage. Since that time, we have added a new director of maintenance and two A&Ps while retaining our apprentice. In my time, we’ve never had more planes available. Big shout-out to Lonny, Zak, Liam, and Holden.
Our pilot crew remains strong. We have retained pilots for longer, such as Olivia and Bennett, and added some talent, like Hamish, who was our CFI, and Steve Chambers. They are led by Stan and Steve Turner, who have accumulated many thousands of hours of flying experience between them and are exceptional teachers. Carson will rejoin us this winter from his time at Katahdin Air.
Ground continues to be the unsung hero of this entire operation. They show up at ungodly hours, drive, ferry, and fly packages all over these islands day in and day out, rain or shine. They don’t get the spotlight like others, but they are vital to the shared existence on the islands. Bo, Cindy, Wink, Walter, Nate, and the island crews, we thank you.
Our operations staff continues to evolve. Alane and Matt joined Chelsea in ensuring we don’t drive this business into the ground and serve as the glue/chaos as we expand our offerings.
We tested ramp agents this year. You may have met the twins, DeAndre and Mason, or Genevieve, while they assisted with luggage and all the other tasks that needed to be done to prepare for your flight. They were a fun addition to the front desk and something we’ll bring back next year.
Pricing
Our pricing continues not to work for us or you, specifically on shared flights. We currently have no concept of non-refundable, so when another party cancels or changes their flight, you are charged differently. A passenger arrived on Sunday morning, expecting to share a flight, and was caught off guard when the other party failed to materialize. We often see people book a flight for four and only show up with two guests, which deprives us of the opportunity to accommodate other freight or passengers. The opposite is true, where we end up with more freight or people than we have room for, and need to add a second plane to the trip.
Our goal in future iterations is to avoid this. The price that you are quoted at the time of booking is what you’ll pay, no matter what happens around you. The goal isn’t to increase prices; it's to increase load factor (the percentage of available seats that are actually sold/used), so we are offering more people affordable rates for travel. Static pricing is based solely on downside protection. How can we not lose our shirts making this single flight for one passenger? In future iterations, the pricing will be closer to what the probability is of selling a seat on any of the repositioning legs.
There is a clear history of what happens when rates are increased: people stop flying, as was the case just three years ago. Looking back at the books for 2019, PIA saw cheaper flights and increased revenue. Load factor is the goal, and I’m fairly convinced it’s the only way to make PIA future-proof.
We have completed the last static pricing update before transitioning to a more dynamic solution. It reflects a change in sole passenger repositioning flights: flypenobscot.com/pricing. Repositioning flights are dead legs; repositioning sounds a little more safety-conscious.
2026
If in 2025 we focused on internal improvements, 2026 will be about improving the experience for the customer. Here’s what is in the queue of what we are working on over the next nine months.
The water taxi scheduling was chaotic, largely due to captain availability and the fact that we are a plane company. We will transfer boats from the Google Sheet, where they are currently located, into the reservation system. I can feel your eye rolls, but it’s going to be great because we have months to harden the software. We plan to pull the Robin R in early December and return her to the water in early spring unless we see a surge of ferry/charter demand this winter.
We plan on running three plane days for the 2026 season and will be making a change to the fleet. The 207s are heavy and less performant than the 206s on the hot days of the summer. The pilots just stopped flying them for good reason. We will be transitioning away from the 207 platform in the winter and acquiring another 206 if all goes to plan. The benefit of the 207 was additional cargo, which we will need to offset either through the boat or with more flights.
PIA will also focus on better freight management. We continue to explore alternative freight options; for example, we will begin testing a laundry service this fall (shoutout Criehaven). The problem is that we lack effective tracking solutions, so we purchased some of those scanner guns and are working on improving notifications. i.e., where is my Sunday Funday box?
In the near-ish future (think winter), you’ll be able to book flights online, so stay tuned. Yes, you can still call dispatch, but as we continue to unburden their work, not having to make a phone call to book a flight will be a large one. Online booking is a topic that warrants a separate 1,800-word post.
We continue to work with the town administrator of North Haven on alternate airstrips for summer use. We have a lot more demand than our two landings per day permit allows, so we are excited about the prospect of working with the town to explore alternative solutions.
Thank you to the town of Vinalhaven; we signed a three-year renewal for the use of the airstrip.
We continue to work on communication. This post is part of that. Posting on social media isn’t it, TBH. You are beholden to the algorithm, and timely information is lost into the ether. Less of a solve at this point and more acknowledging it’s a thing.
Closing
PIA currently achieves an operating profit margin of around 5%, so my wife and I continue to invest in the business for significant expenditures. Any profit is either allocated to the employee profit-sharing pool or reinvested in smaller acquisitions, such as the beat-up vehicles you see us driving around. I was showing a little kid one of the planes, and the very sweet mother said, “You all must make a killing.” Lady, no. We have a five-year time horizon to make the business truly self-supporting, and we are well on our way to achieving this goal.
I think sometimes we lose sight of the fact that we fly on $200k aircraft, piloted by humans with hundreds or thousands of hours of experience, worked on by a maintenance staff with years of experience, directed by a dispatcher with a small army of grounds people to 1000-foot runways miles off the coast in the Atlantic Ocean. What many people will never do in their lives, we do to get to the grocery store.
However, what we experience in Penobscot Bay is not unique in the world. Small, hyperlocal networks of transportation and logistics exist worldwide in rural areas, enabling people to visit and live. These are fragile networks, where if a single piece of paper gets lost, they are done for the day. Our goal is to make our little network more robust.
I’ll leave you with the fact that I continue to be impressed with the people who work at PIA. They believe in the mission and love the islands and their inhabitants. They show up every day in the service of the residents of Penobscot Island Bay. In the words of the namesake of the company, flying is a choice; we want you to make that choice.
For booking inquiries or more information about our services, please contact us directly.