Blade Resumes Scheduled Service To Sag Harbor — But Promises To Limit Number Of Flights

Just a week after agreeing to temporarily halt flights into and out of Sag Harbor, Blade, the flight booking service that offers helicopter and seaplane service between New York City and the East End, is once again advertising regular service to and from Sag Harbor Bay by seaplane.

The about-face came after a discussion between company representatives and Sag Harbor Mayor Jim Larocca. Last week, Larocca said the village would order the removal of a float affixed to a mooring, where seaplanes docked, and prohibit Ken Deeg, who operates a village-licensed launch service, from serving seaplane passengers.

Larocca called for those steps after seeing a Blade ad showing customers flying from the city to Sag Harbor, where they were whisked to Long Wharf by launch, and reading the company’s website, which, he said, implied that the village supported regular seaplane service to and from Long Wharf.

On Monday, Larocca said Blade had agreed to a number of concessions that made it unnecessary for the village to take more stringent steps.

First, he said the company agreed to not schedule any more flights than last year, when it only offered charter service to Sag Harbor. Second, the company said it would recognize that the float its planes use to discharge and pick up passengers would be under Deeg’s authority.

Finally, Blade has agreed not to say its planes were landing at Long Wharf, or to imply that the village has any sort of airport facility or supports its service. It also removed the Sag Harbor ad from YouTube and its website.

“I think it’s an equitable outcome that recognizes our limited jurisdiction and assures us that this operation as it is in effect will be no different than what happened last year,” Larocca said.

“The ad was the detonator of this whole problem,” he added. “The ad was ridiculous. They made it sound like they were landing jets, turbo props and helicopters on Long Wharf.”

Trustee Aidan Corish said he continues to have misgivings about the possibility of increased seaplane service, saying that by allowing the planes to enter village waters and providing launch service, the village was “facilitating the last mile.”

He added that if plane traffic increased, so would the likelihood of an accident, and he pointed out village firefighters were hard-pressed to extinguish a recent boat fire off North Haven two weeks ago.

Sag Harbor has jurisdiction 4,000 feet from shore. Its waterways law prohibits seaplanes from landing in village waters, but they are permitted to taxi to within 1,500 feet of shore. New York State controls the area beyond the 4,000-foot line, and it permits seaplanes to use its waters.

Blade said last week that it had begun to offer regularly scheduled service to Sag Harbor so it would be positioned for possible restrictions at East Hampton Airport, where the town has been trying to impose limits on flights. On Tuesday, the East Hampton Town Board agreed to look into a permanent closure of the airport after a state judge blocked its earlier efforts.

Whether East Hampton’s decision will have an impact on the number of flights Blade will offer in alternative locations like Sag Harbor remains unknown.

For now, the company has one flight from New York to Sag Harbor scheduled for Thursday afternoon, June 9, three more scheduled for Friday, June 10, and one from Sag Harbor to New York City on Monday, June 13.

It also remains unclear how the village will monitor Blade for compliance for the number of flights coming to and leaving from Sag Harbor other than to rely on the company’s own records.

The arrangement with the floating dock also remains unclear. Village officials have said that Deeg installed a mooring 4,000 feet from shore, but that Blade had paid for the cost of the floating dock, which was enlarged from a similar structure that was moored much closer to the breakwater last year.

Deeg refused to discuss the new arrangement on Tuesday, but Larocca said that as a former Coast Guardsman, Deeg was well trained and had operated a professional launch service for years.

Blade is not the only service to use Sag Harbor Bay.

Peter Manice, the director of scheduled flights for Tailwind, which has also begun to schedule flights to and from Sag Harbor, said his company was not part of the discussions between Blade and the mayor, but that it was his understanding that its planes were free to use the same float and launch service as Blade.

“We intend to offer service as needed to Sag Harbor,” he said. “The amount of that usage depends on what happens at East Hampton Airport.”