Maine’s congressional delegation called on the U.S. Postal Service to immediately resolve its payment issue with a Maine contractor that serves island communities.
On April 21, Rockland-based Penobscot Island Air alerted customers that, over the last year, it has had payment issues with the U.S. Postal Service.
“Currently, we are owed roughly $388,000 for delivering mail as far back as 2023, and we haven’t been paid for a single delivery in 2026,” the private air carrier wrote in a Facebook post.
It added, “While the USPS made some good-faith payments early this year to pay down its balance, we haven’t received a payment since March 13.”
Island communities such as Matinicus and Vinalhaven use the USPS to pay bills, receive medications and stay connected. Penobscot Island Air has helped the USPS deliver mail to island residents for decades. USPS mail deliveries typically account for almost a fifth of the airline’s annual revenue.
A fifth of revenue
The owed money represents almost a fifth of the company’s yearly revenue, it said.
“It’s been 75 days this year alone that we have dutifully loaded up USPS mail and ferried or flown it out to the islands. It’s no secret that winter is our slow period, and without prompt payments, cash flow is bleak,” the company said.
As a gesture of protest, the company said it wouldn’t be delivering USPS mail that day.
“We did our best to resolve this situation by other means, and we do not take this step lightly,” the company wrote. [Penobscot Island Air] has spent countless hours in meetings with the USPS financial department and our local counterparts in Rockland. For a period, stopping by or calling daily, begging anyone to fill out the proper paperwork.”
It added, “We hope we can resolve this situation quickly, as we value our partnership with the USPS and the islands … We know you rely on the mail for critical packages such as medications. We have no intention of dragging this out and will go back to work without payment if we must.”
In a subsequent post, the company said it received word from the USPS that it would pay about 25% of the balance on April 24.
“We have a framework for going forward, and there’s enough clarity for us to work with,” the company wrote.
Questions remain
In a letter last week to Postmaster General David Steiner, U.S. Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, and U.S. Reps. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, and Jared Golden, D-2nd District, said questions remain, including the current balance owed to Penobscot Island Air and a timeline of payments.
Critical income
“For decades, Penobscot Island Air has helped the USPS deliver essential mail to Maine’s island residents,” the delegation wrote. “We urge you to immediately resolve the outstanding back payments and provide clarification on how these payment lapses occurred, as well as how delays can be prevented in the future.”
“We are concerned that PIA’s operations will continue to be disrupted without reliable processing of this critical stream of income,” the letter said.
Passengers and cargo
Dedicated air service to Maine’s unbridged island communities dates back to the late 1940s through a series of small flying services that eventually became Penobscot Island Air, established in 2004 by longtime pilot Kevin Waters.
With community support, Waters initially ran flights out of a trailer with hay bales stacked around it for insulation. Today, the company flies passengers and cargo 365 days a year, with over 10,000 annual enplanements and a fleet that includes three Cessna 206s, two Cessna 207s, and an amphibious 206, according to its website. Waters died in July 2020.
Penobscot Island Air provides regional air service to the islands of Penobscot Bay and beyond, offering on-demand charter flights, cargo delivery, scenic flights and emergency transport. It has an air flight school and a pick-and-delivery laundry service.
This is not the first time Maine has quarreled with the USPS. In 2021, the closure of the post office in the Oxford County town of West Paris, population 1,700, outcry among residents.
After five years of battling at some of the highest levels of government, the U.S. Post Office opened a new West Paris Post Office earlier this month.
