Accident grounds new service

By Raphael Lewis, Globe Staff, 4/18/2002

Shuttle America executives yesterday announced the immediate cancellation of the company's fledgling service to White Plains, N.Y., from Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford, after one of its aircraft was badly damaged Tuesday night.

Shuttle America, which operates US Airways Express service from Hanscom, said it will also suspend its service from Hanscom to LaGuardia Airport in Queens, New York, beginning tomorrow because of the accident, said Mark Cestari a Shuttle America vice president.

The two routes accounted for 11 round trips each weekday, Cestari said, but the White Plains service had only begun Monday.

The company hopes to bring back LaGuardia service by ''early summer,'' Cestari said. The cost of the damage was not yet known.

The accident occurred when a Saab 340 turboprop, which seats 33 passengers, was being taxied to a hangar, Cestari said. The craft's hydraulic brake and steering system disengaged, and the aircraft struck a fence, badly damaging the engine and the fuselage, Cestari said. There were no passengers on board and no one was injured.

Because Shuttle America has committed much of its fleet to Pittsburgh, where the planes are used as part of US Airways Express service, the loss of one aircraft was enough to disrupt the company's schedule, Cestari said.

''Hopefully, we'll get the LaGuardia service up in no more than six weeks,'' Cestari said.

This story ran on page C3 of the Boston Globe on 4/18/2002.
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