The Maverick Aviation Group says it has added three planes ideally suited to Grand Canyon air-tour flights to its fleet at Henderson Executive Airport.
Three nine-passenger, single-engine Cessna Grand Caravan 208 planes began flying passengers on April 23 for Maverick Airlines, the company’s fixed-wing aircraft division.
The new planes will be used on flights to the Grand Canyon West Rim on the Hualapai Indian Reservation and for private charters.
Terms of the acquisition was not disclosed by the company.
Because every passenger has a window seat — the plane’s wing is mounted above the fuselage — and the aircraft flies slower and at lower altitudes than most conventional aircraft, Caravan 208s are ideal for air tours.
Bryan Kroten, a spokesman for Maverick, said the planes’ cabins are air conditioned and have leather bucket seats with extra legroom.
“Because of the high wing design, passengers will truly have an unobstructed bird’s-eye view of Hoover Dam, Lake Mead and the Grand Canyon with excellent photographic opportunities,” Kroten said.
Maverick, the largest Las Vegas Valley-based air tour company with its fleet of helicopters, now has six planes, adding to a fleet of three 19-passenger, twin-engine Beechcraft 1900 planes.
Kroten said the faster, pressurized Beechcraft planes are more suited to direct transportation to tour destinations.
The company offers daily tours from the Henderson airport and last year flew 220,000 passengers on tours to the Grand Canyon, over the Las Vegas Strip and Valley of Fire State Park. Maverick also packages tours that include Jeep and white-water rafting.
During the summer peak season, the company flies more than 700 passengers a day and it is taking reservations for flights from Henderson to the Electric Daisy Carnival music festival in June.