John and Christine Rector are owners of Isle Royale Seaplanes (IRS), which flies guests from Cook County to Isle Royale. John also offers flights to and from Isle Royale from Houghton, Michigan. John, in his first year of business in Minnesota, said he is going to expand his business in Cook County to add flights to Voyageurs National Park and to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.
In mid-July 2017 the National Park Service approved a proposal by Isle Royale Seaplanes (IRS) to offer seaplane service from Grand Marais to Isle Royale. IRS already had an existing contract with the park to provide air taxi service from Houghton, Michigan to Isle Royale through 2025.
After a short season which concluded at the end of September, John Rector, owner and operator of IRS, reflected back on his first year flying guests from Cook County to the big island.
“It went okay. Because of the late start I didn’t really advertise the service. All of the customers learned about us from our website, friends or word of mouth. We carried about 40 people to Isle Royale from the Cook County airport. I guess I’m surprised we got as many people as we did,” he said.
Undeterred by a slow first season, Rector has plans to expand his service to Cook County.
“I think we are going to purchase a third airplane and have it dedicated there in the county. We plan to continue flights to Isle Royale and also market flights to Voyageur National Park as well as to the Boundary Water Canoe Area (BWCA).”
For years Rector has operated an air taxi service flying customers from Houghton, Michigan to various locations on Isle Royale. His service from Cook County airport takes folks to designated water landings at Windigo, Mott Island, and Tobin Harbor/Rock Harbor Lodge.
Rector currently owns two Cessna 206 amphibious seaplanes. He began flying as a teen and after 34 years he has amassed more than 27,000 hours of airtime. Twenty-five of those years John spent as an airline captain and he has more than 15 years flying floatplanes. His wife, Christine, is an airline captain with close to 10,000 hours piloting jets and turboprops.
This past season one-way tickets from Grand Marais to Windigo Harbor were $200 and $260 to fly to Rock Harbor. Round trip tickets cost $290 to Windigo and $380 to Rock Harbor.
Reservations for next season will open January 2, 2018.
“We plan to increase our flights from Grand Marais, so look for those changes on our website toward the end of the year,” said Rector.
To learn more about this service you can email info@isleroyaleseaplanes.com, check them out on Facebook or visit their website: www.isleroyaleseaplanes.com.
. info@isleroyaleseaplanes.com
. www.facebook.com/isleroyaleseaplanes
. www.isleroyaleseaplanes.com
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