by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
In what’s being described as “the next step,” a local air charter company will offer non-stop service to the Bahamas by the first of May.
Leapfrog Airlines, a subsidiary of Malone Air Charter, Inc., made the announcement Wednesday.
“We’re very excited about this venture,” said Scott McGill, Malone Air operations director. “It’s our goal for people to think of us as their main portal to Abaco as opposed to the other options currently out there.”
Leapfrog is owned and operated at Craig Airport by the father/son team of Hayden and Scott Malone.
“Let me tell you what our specialty is,” said Hayden Malone, a former flight engineer. “We’re not just serving peanuts on a plane. We try to provide our passengers with the best service they can possibly get anywhere.
“This really is a family operation, and I think we make a pretty darn good team, if I may say so myself.”
The Malones founded the company, with their wives Irene and Mindy, nearly six years ago. Originally a flight school comprising of only two planes, the company grew quickly.
“About two years after we started, after we had acquired all of the proper permits, we began chartering flights,” said Haydon Malone. “Things started happening for us and now we have 18 planes and our pilots average more than 20,000 flight hours in both commercial and corporate aviation.
“But the exciting thing about Leapfrog is that it allows our passengers to book a flight with us to the Bahamas, but for a much lower rate.”
As opposed to paying upward of $2,000 for a charter flight, Malone said a ticket on Leapfrog carries a much lower $425 price tag.
“It’s that simple” he said. “And based on the demand from our current charter clients and other local individuals who frequent the island, we realized that now was the time and we had to move fast.
“We’ve always been headed in this direction, but in this business, you have to take a lot of careful steps.”
“Baby steps,” said McGill. “It’s about working your way up and refining what you do. We feel like we’ve been able to do that.”
Now focused exclusively on providing service to Abaco, McGill, who the Malones call their ”adopted son,” and Malone say other destinations are possible in the future.
“It’s very possible, but we’ll have to see how it goes,” said Haydon Malone. “We have big goals, but we’re confident that, with a lot of hard work we should have no problem attaining them.”
To book a flight on Leapfrog Airlines, log onto www.leapfrogairlines.com.