Inaugural Flight of Airline Fails to Get Off the Ground

HALIFAX, Canada — Only two things were missing from the inaugural flight of the first U.S. airline to link the Maritime Provinces and New England: passengers and a plane.

Eastern Express, owned by Bar Harbor Airways and affiliated with Eastern Airlines, was to begin daily return service to Portland, Me., and Boston from Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Tuesday. Daily service to Bangor, Me., and Boston from Saint John, New Brunswick, was also scheduled to begin Tuesday.

Eastern spokesman Gary Linscott said the flights were canceled because there were no bookings from either Halifax or Saint John. In addition, the aircraft scheduled to fly out of Halifax never left Portland the night before.

But despite the lackluster start, the airline is optimistic that its round-trip service on weekdays will become popular, Linscott said.