Southern Airways Expands Fleet With ‘Travelers’; Two Now, Four Later

Southern Airways signed on the line to take delivery of two P2012 Travelers, configured for commuter transportation, and intends to add four more to its fleet within the next year and a half.  

This configuration provides maximum seating for 9 passengers (consisting of two per row and a singular seat in the rear) and 2 crew in their hallmark (mostly boxy) fuselage.  Besides the standard crew seating, and easy loading/unloading through the rear doors, the P2012 was designed to readily support four additional configurations: Executive (6 seats with 2 to a table), Cargo, Air Ambulance (seating 4 and accommodating 2 stretchers), and Parachute operations (bench seating for 8 adventurers).

Southern Airways based in Palm Beach, FL was founded in 2013 and operates short-haul routes in the Mid-Atlantic, New England, Gulf, California, and Rockies regions of the United States.  Together with its subsidiary Mokulele Airlines, their diverse fleet of neatly 50 aircraft serves 40-odd cities.  They looked at 9-seat passenger aircraft and felt that the Traveler offered the best option in terms of passenger experience and operating costs. More importantly, the ability to get into or out of small airports or the not-so-improved runway surfaces!

Tecnam sees their P2012 as comparable to the Cessna 402, Quest Kodiak, Piper Navajo, and Britten-Norman B2N.  In many respects, it shares some characteristics with fellow brethren; fixed gear, high wing, short take-off distance (for an aircraft of that caliber), and single- or dual-pilot operations.  The P2012, powered by two FADEC-actuated 375hp Lycoming TEO540C1A engines entered service in 2019, allegedly has a higher standard empty weight than its brethren at 4,950lbs, and a useful load of 2,970lbs. Its brochure(d) takeoff and landing distances are 1,968ft and 1,640ft respectively.  

The Traveler has grown in popularity with other short-haul/regional carriers such as Cape Air, which seeks to expand its fleet to 100 units following an agreement it signed in 2019.

FMI: www.iflysouthern.com, www.tecnam.com