Tropic Ocean Airways

Tropic Ocean Airways is a seaplane charter and scheduled service airline based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.[1] Tropic operates several Cessna airframes on floats.

Tropic Ocean Airways
IATA ICAO Callsign
TI FTO Wagner
Founded2009 (2009)
Commenced operations2009 (2009)
Operating bases
Fleet size11
Destinations3 + charter
HeadquartersFort Lauderdale, Florida
Websiteflytropic.com

Services

Tropic Ocean Airways operates scheduled and charter seaplane services throughout the Bahamas, and sometimes Florida. Tropic also operates provisioning services to vessels at sea. During the summer season, Tropic operates scheduled services for Blade and charter services out of New York Skyports Inc. Seaplane Base.

Bahamas and Florida

Tropic Ocean Airways flies several scheduled and charter services year round, out of Fort Lauderdale International Airport and Miami Seaplane Base. Scheduled flights are to the Bahamas as Florida scheduled flights were short lived. Tropic also offers seaplane charter flights, and vessel provisioning services for ships at sea.

Northeastern US

During the summer season, Tropic Ocean Airways operates Cessna Seaplanes from New York Seaplane Base to several charter destinations in the region.[2]

Puerto Rico

On October 4th, 2019 Tropic Ocean Airways announced that they would be opening a base in Puerto Rico[3] and now has one plane and a two-pilot crew stationed in San Juan; it plans to bring as many as six planes on the Caribbean island by 2020. The new flights will include private charters, scheduled flights, “dock to yacht” and cargo services. Charter flights will include destinations like the BVI, Necker Island, Antigua, St Maarten, St Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla, the company said. Flights will depart both from the Jet Aviation fixed-base operator at Luis Munoz Marin airport, along with the Bahia Urbana dock in Old San Juan.[4]

Essential Air Service bid

On December 19th, 2017 Tropic Ocean Airways unsuccessfully attempted to bid into the US government's Essential Air Services (EAS) programme following the submission of a proposal to serve the Arizona town of Show Low.

In their proposal, Tropic Ocean put forward two options. The first entails 18 weekly return flights between Show Low and Phoenix Sky Harbor for an annual subsidy of USD $1,429,050, while the second entails a total of 24 weekly return flights from Show Low to Phoenix Sky Harbor (12x weekly), six flights to Tucson Int'l, and six to Albuquerque. The annual subsidy requested here is USD $1,963,750.[5]

The Show Low EAS contract was awarded to Boutique Air for an annual subsidy of USD $1,243,255.[6]

Destinations

Current scheduled service
Departure airportArrival airports
Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International AirportAndros Town International Airport, Great Harbour Cay Airport, South Bimini Airport
Miami Seaplane BaseNorth Bimini Airport

[7][8]

Current charter service regions

Abandoned scheduled service
Departure airportArrival airports
Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International AirportMarsh Harbour Airport, Treasure Cay Airport, Peter O. Knight Airport, Key West International Airport, Nassau International Airport, Hope Town, Lakeland Linder International Airport, Florida Keys Marathon Airport
Miami Seaplane BaseGreat Harbour Cay Airport
Nassau International AirportKamalame Cay

[9]

Fleet

As of January 2016, Tropic Ocean Airways operates the following aircraft. However, they advertise a fleet of 13.[10]

Type Fleet Passengers
Cessna 206 Amphibian 1 5
Cessna Grand Caravan Wheeled 1 9
Cessna Caravan EX Wheeled 1 9
Cessna Grand Caravan Amphibian 3 9
Cessna Caravan EX Amphibian 5 9

Accident History

On July 1, 2018, a Cessna 185 operated by Tropic Ocean Airways crashed on landing at the Miami Seaplane Base. The pilot was the sole occupant of the aircraft and sustained minor injuries. The aircraft was submerged, totaled and removed from service. [11]

References
  1. "Tropic Ocean Air seeks scheduled pax ops". ch-aviation. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
  2. "Tropic Ocean Airways To Announce New York Seaplane Service at New York Travel Show". PRWeb. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
  3. "Tropic Ocean Airways stations jet in Puerto Rico with aim to expand new hub soon".
  4. "Tropic Ocean Airways Launching Big Caribbean Seaplane Expansion".
  5. "Florida's Tropic Ocean Airways eyes EAS market opportunities".
  6. "Boutique Air secures EAS contracts for Carlsbad NM, Show Low AZ".
  7. "Boutique Air secures EAS contracts for Carlsbad NM, Show Low AZ".
  8. https://flytropic.com/flight-services/scheduled-flights
  9. "Tropic Ocean Air seeks scheduled pax ops".
  10. "Our Fleet | Tropic Ocean Airways". flytropic.com. Retrieved 2019-09-11.
  11. "Tropic Ocean Airways Cessna 185 N14ED Accident Summary".
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