The Only Commercial Airline Based in Maine Appears to be Grounded  

ME – The only commercial airline headquartered in Maine has stopped flying — and Elite Airways executives aren’t talking about plans for the company, including whether it will resume service between the Northeast and Florida. Until recently, Elite offered low-cost flights to and from Portland International Jetport with stops at White Plains, New York; Newark, New Jersey; and Florida destinations Vero Beach and St. Augustine. The airline started in 2006 as a charter business and, in 2014, began offering scheduled nonstop service between Maine, Washington, D.C., and Melbourne, Florida. Over the years, Elite has served other destinations such as Chicago, Las Vegas, and the Bahamas, with a fleet that once numbered over a dozen regional jet airliners. In 2019, Elite carried 24,000 passengers, according to federal records. 

However, it appears the airline has quietly shut down much of its service. Elite flights in and out of Vero Beach Regional Airport ceased on June 30, the Vero Beach Hometown News reported Thursday. On travel websites, numerous comments complained about canceled Elite services in recent months. The airline’s website no longer allows online bookings and instead says the reservation system is getting an upgrade and maintenance. The site’s flight status display is inactive. Elite is no longer listed among the airlines that serve Portland on the jetport’s website. The airport director, Paul Bradbury, did not immediately return a call seeking more information. 

Repeated attempts to contact the airline were unsuccessful; phone calls to Elite’s Portland Pier headquarters automatically went to voicemail. Emails to Elite executives bounced back as undeliverable. The Elite planes have dispersed without explanation. According to the website PlaneSpotters.net, all seven of the airline’s current jets are parked — four in Tuscon, Arizona, one in Tennessee, and two at the Auburn-Lewiston Municipal Airport. Elite began leasing 27,000 square feet of hangar and office space in Auburn- Lewiston almost four years ago. The airline used the airport for maintenance and initially hoped to hire 100 employees. Instead, according to Scheller, Elite now owes seven months of back rent, totaling $69,300. Scheller said he recently told Elite’s president, John Pearsall, that the airport plans to sue to enforce payment of the back rent. 

Andy Bowden, an executive with Spectrum in South Portland, said he has a $1,600 credit from Elite that is expiring soon. As a result, he can’t book a flight. Bowden and his wife were booked to fly from Portland to Florida almost a year ago until his wife contracted COVID two days before their scheduled departure. The airline issued him a credit. When he tried to book a flight this summer, agents told him they were redoing the company’s reservations software and had no flights available, “I’ve been trying to use my credit since July,” Bowden said. Online, he encounters the message about the airline’s reservation system being upgraded, “which I believe is a line of bunk. And when you call a live operator, she is sympathetic but can’t really offer anything.” The Future of Elite Airways remains unknown until the foreseeable future.