Bar Harbor Airlines

Ghost Corp Apparel — resurrecting iconic corporate ghosts.

Bar Harbor Airways began on October 2, 1943, when brothers Thomas and Joseph Caruso launched charter and scenic flying from Bar Harbor, Maine. By 1950, the operation had established itself at Hancock County–Bar Harbor Airport in nearby Trenton—an appropriately compact headquarters for an airline whose early business was all coastline, islands and quick hops.

Scheduled commuter service arrived in 1968. Around 1972, the company took the Bar Harbor Airlines name and expanded from its Maine roots toward Boston, Portland, Bangor and Quebec City. Cessnas and Beechcraft gave way to a proper regional-airline assortment of Convairs, CASA Aviocars, Saab 340s, Beech 1900s and ATR 42s: the small-airline fleet menu, with extra turboprop.

Texas Air Corporation acquired a 50 percent stake in April 1987 and arranged Bar Harbor’s purchase of Provincetown-Boston Airline. The carrier then flew under both Eastern Express and Continental Express identities, linking northeastern and Florida markets. Its historic Maine headquarters moved to Houston, Texas, in 1989.

Eastern became owner of substantially all of Bar Harbor’s stock in August 1990. Bar Harbor ceased flight operations on January 19, 1991, and filed for Chapter 11 the next day; its assets were subsequently liquidated. The brand’s story ended not with a beach landing, but with airline-industry consolidation doing what it does best.

Our Bar Harbor Airlines collection celebrates the hardy, propeller-powered regional carrier that brought a little Maine salt air to the big-city timetable.