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| Founded | 1967 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hubs | Boulder City Municipal Airport | ||||||
| Fleet size | 16 (DHC-6 Twin Otter) [1] | ||||||
| Parent company | Grand Canyon Airlines [2] | ||||||
| Headquarters | Paradise, Nevada | ||||||
| Website | http://www.scenic.com | ||||||
Grand Canyon Scenic Airlines is an American regional airline based in Paradise, Nevada, United States. It operates sightseeing flights from Boulder City Municipal Airport in Boulder City, Nevada. [3] Scenic has been owned by Grand Canyon Airlines since 2008.
Scenic Airlines was started by John and Elizabeth Seibold and their single engine Cessna airplane in North Las Vegas Airport in 1967. [4] Between 1967 and 1993 Scenic Airlines grew to be one of the world's largest fixed-wing air tour operations. [5] In 2000, John Seibold was recognized by the Las Vegas Review Journal as being one of the most influential businessmen in Las Vegas in the previous 100 years. [5] In 1977, Scenic Airlines purchased the design and manufacturing rights to turboprop-powered conversions of the Cessna 402 and Cessna 414 from American Jet Industries. [6] [7] In 1983, the airline co-developed modifications to the de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter to make it more suitable for use as an air tour airplane. [4] [5] The airline eventually moved to Las Vegas's Harry Reid International Airport (LAS). [4]
In the late 1960s, Scenic operated scheduled passenger flights on a route from Salt Lake City to Blanding, Utah, making stops at five other cities. During the mid-1970s, Scenic operated from a hub in Las Vegas providing service to Grand Canyon, Page, and Yuma in Arizona, to Long Beach, Palm Springs, Carlsbad, El Centro, and Death Valley in California, and to Ely, and Elko, Nevada. The carrier flew de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter and Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner aircraft. [8]
During the 1980s Scenic operated a vintage Ford Trimotor aircraft on its flight seeing tours. This was the type aircraft operated by the original Scenic Airways of the late 1920s that also operated flight seeing service across the Grand Canyon.
In 1994 the Seibolds sold the airline to SkyWest Airlines [9] and it continued to see growth until it merged with Eagle Canyon Airlines in 1999. [9] [4] In 1999, Scenic was operating scheduled passenger service between Las Vegas (LAS) and Grand Canyon National Park Airport (GCN) with Fokker F27 turboprops. [10] In the spring of 2006, citing rising fuel costs, the airline announced it would be ceasing scheduled passenger operations in order to focus on its sightseeing flights, thus abandoning its scheduled services using its fleet of three Beechcraft 1900 turboprop aircraft. Almost all of the scheduled service flights, including those to Ely, Nevada, were Essential Air Service routes and were then picked up by Air Midwest operating as US Airways Express.
On March 29, 2007, Scenic Airlines was sold to Grand Canyon Airlines and was subsequently renamed Grand Canyon Scenic Airlines. The airline continued to operate from the Boulder City airport providing services to Grand Canyon West, Grand Canyon, Page, Arizona, Monument Valley, Utah, and Rainbow Bridge, Utah. At that time, Grand Canyon Scenic Airlines continued to operate sightseeing flight services to the Grand Canyon every day of the year.
On March 19, 2009, Grand Canyon Scenic Airlines moved its operations at the Boulder City airport into the company's new Boulder City Aerocenter, a 30,000 sq ft (2,800 m2) terminal. [11]
Since it was founded in 1966, Scenic Airlines has experienced at least five fatal accidents.
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The Grand Canyon mid-air collision occurred when Grand Canyon Airlines Flight 6, a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, collided with a Bell 206 helicopter, Helitech Flight 2, over Grand Canyon National Park on June 18, 1986. All 25 passengers and crew on board the two aircraft were killed. It remains the deadliest accident involving a helicopter on United States soil, surpassing the crash of Los Angeles Airways Flight 841 in 1968, which killed 23 people.
