Downeast Airlines
| Commenced operations | 1960 |
|---|---|
| Ceased operations | June 1, 2007 |
| Operating bases | Knox County Regional Airport, Maine, USA |
| Headquarters | Rockland, Maine, United States |
| Key people | Robert Stenger |
Downeast Airlines was a commuter airline based in Rockland, Maine, from 1960 to June 1, 2007 when it was acquired by Maine Atlantic Aviation, an arm of the Jordache Enterprises conglomerate. While the airline was closed, Downeast Air remains a fixed-base operator at its former home airfield.
In 1960, Robert Stenger established the company based at the Knox County Regional Airport in Rockland, Maine. The fixed base operator started as Mid-Coast Airways and later changed its name to Downeast Airlines which was inspired by the area of Maine from around Bar Harbor northeast up the coast to the Canada–US border that has been known for at least two centuries as "Downeast Maine".
After leaving the US Army as a sergeant in the mid-1950s and using his Veterans Administration educational benefits to pay for flight lessons, Stenger received his commercial pilot's license and later started the company. In 1968, after Northeast Airlines began its merger with Delta Air Lines, the new organization applied to the Civil Aeronautics Board to discontinue service on the Boston to Rockland route. The Northeast-Delta's executives began searching for a company to sponsor as a replacement carrier. Stenger's operation, which already had an air-taxi certificate from the FAA under Part 135 of the Federal Air Regulations, applied for the route as a scheduled air-taxi carrier and subsequently qualified as a Part 135 commuter airline.
In 1980, Stenger sold the Boston to Rockland route to Bar Harbor Airlines, but continued the air-taxi service.
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