Boutique Air (Priv)
United States · Active
Airline Identity
History
Boutique Air was founded in 2007 in San Francisco by Shawn Simpson, a former Google employee, initially as an aviation technology venture before pivoting to charter operations and then to scheduled commuter flying; it received U.S. commuter air carrier authority in 2013 and launched its first scheduled route, between Hawthorne and Las Vegas, that year. The airline grew primarily by winning U.S. Essential Air Service (EAS) contracts, using small pressurized Pilatus PC-12 aircraft to connect underserved small communities to larger hub airports.
Current Operations
Boutique Air continues to operate scheduled point-to-point service under numerous EAS contracts across the United States alongside private charter flying, with charter bases including South Florida, Las Vegas, Boston, Dallas and Portland, Oregon; in 2019 it carried more than 180,000 passengers. It maintains an interline agreement with American Airlines (since December 2018) and previously had a codeshare with United Airlines that United terminated in late 2024 while keeping a basic interline arrangement; as of 2025 the airline also faced an FAA lawsuit over alleged drug- and alcohol-testing compliance violations from 2020-2021.
Last verified 2026-09-03· Source: airline public disclosures, company press releases & aviation-industry reporting.