Flying an EAS Route: Cessna 208 IAD–DUJ–PIT
A $65 ticket on Southern Air Express from Dulles to Pittsburgh via Dubois on a Cessna 208 — EAS explained, Horseshoe Curve flyover, and a genuinely great trip.
A $65 ticket on a Cessna 208 from Dulles to Pittsburgh via Dubois, Pennsylvania on a federally subsidized Essential Air Service route. Eight seats, two legs, four TSA agents, and a flyover of one of America's great engineering marvels.
| Detail | Leg 1 | Leg 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Flight | Southern Air Express 9X 127 | Southern Air Express 9X 238 |
| Route | Washington Dulles (IAD) → Dubois (DUJ) | Dubois (DUJ) → Pittsburgh (PIT) |
| Aircraft | Cessna 208 (N208BK) | Cessna 208 (N957SP) |
| Ticket | $65 total — both legs | |
What Is an EAS Route?
Before getting into the flight itself, it's worth explaining what Essential Air Service is because most people have no idea this program exists.
The Essential Air Service program was created as part of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. The idea was simple: deregulation would let airlines fly where they wanted based on market demand, which is great for busy routes but terrible for small communities. EAS was the compromise. The federal government subsidizes air service to qualifying small communities to ensure they maintain connection to the national air network.
In practice this means the DOT contracts with regional carriers to operate scheduled service between small airports and larger hubs, often with heavy subsidies that keep fares artificially low for passengers. The $65 I paid for IAD to Pittsburgh via Dubois would not be economically feasible without subsidization. Southern Air Express holds the contract for this specific route, operating with Cessna 208 Caravans - nine-seat single-engine turboprops that look entirely out of place parked next to jets at Dulles.
That contrast is part of what makes trips like this so fun.
Getting to the Gate — Sort Of
After arriving at Dulles we headed to the Southern Air Express check-in desk for our bags to be weighed and tagged. On small aircraft like this bags aren't the only thing to get weighed… people too!
We boarded from the H gates at Dulles, which handle international arrivals and some regional operations. The "gate" for this departure was less a gate and more a bus that took us a few hundred feet out to the ramp where we found two Cessna 208s were parked side by side. One was unmarked - N208BK, the aircraft for our leg. The other was painted in Surf Air livery.
Seeing a Cessna Caravan on the Dulles ramp surrounded by widebodies is an experience in itself.
The Aircraft
The Cessna 208 Caravan is a single-engine turboprop that seats up to nine passengers in a 1x1 configuration. N208BK has eight seats with a proper aisle between them. There's more legroom than you'd expect given the size of the aircraft, overhead air vents and lights, and a view of essentially everything including the instrument panel. There's no cabin divider between passengers and the flight deck. You watch the pilot go through the entire startup and taxi sequence from a few feet away.
The engine was started about 15 minutes before departure. We rolled off shortly after well ahead of schedule.
Leg 1: IAD to DUJ
We had a quick taxi to the runway and first for takeoff. The ride was bumpy at lower altitude before settling out at cruise. What made this leg special was the view. Climbing out of Dulles heading west, you track over Loudoun County wine country - rolling hills and vineyards visible below - before the terrain starts to rise toward the Blue Ridge. Harpers Ferry came into view at the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers.
Further west, cruising over central Pennsylvania, the route took us over Altoona and the Horseshoe Curve - an engineering landmark worth knowing about. Built by the Pennsylvania Railroad and opened in 1854, the Horseshoe Curve solved one of the great civil engineering problems of the 19th century: how to get a railroad over the Allegheny Mountains without grades too steep for the locomotives of the era. The solution was a sweeping 2,375-foot curved track bent into a horseshoe shape around a mountain valley, allowing trains to climb gradually rather than attacking the steep grade head-on. In fact, it was so significant that German saboteurs targeted it during World War II.
We landed at Dubois Regional Airport 18 minutes early. It was a fun cross-wind landing into a small airport with one person handling marshaling and essentially everything else on the ground.
The Dubois Layover
During our layover we stopped by the Flight Deck restaurant for a quick bite to eat. While it wasn't located airside, it offered great views of our next aircraft's arrival and refueling.
After lunch we had some time to explore the very small terminal. I particularly enjoyed the historical placards and retro Southern Air Express posters.
Our final leg was half full with only four passengers. And four TSA agents who drove up to screen our flight just a few minutes before departure. Talk about a strong TSA agent to passenger ratio!
Leg 2: DUJ to PIT
The second flight was the shorter hop of the two, on N957SP. It was quicker than the first leg and bumpier, but the views approaching Pittsburgh made up for it.
The city comes into view especially if you're lucky enough to be assigned the left side. Rivers, bridges, downtown, and the surrounding hills all visible on approach.
We landed 25 minutes early. We deboarded via tarmac rather than a jetbridge - you walk across a small part of the ramp and up a ramp that leads to a jetbridge into the terminal. Pittsburgh's airport was quiet, which is its own kind of pleasant after the sensory experience of a Cessna Caravan flight.
How to Book an EAS Route
EAS flights are bookable through the standard channels. The DOT maintains a full list of EAS communities at transportation.gov.
Fares on subsidized routes are often remarkably low for the distance traveled - the $65 IAD to Pittsburgh routing via Dubois is not unusual. The catch is infrequent schedules and small aircraft that can be bumpy. The tradeoff is a flying experience that is different from anything else in domestic aviation.
If you have any interest in small airports, regional aviation, or just seeing parts of the country from a few thousand feet on a nine-seat turboprop, EAS routes are worth seeking out. This one in particular, with the Horseshoe Curve flyover and the approach into Pittsburgh, was a genuinely great trip.