Prince George passengers will soon have direct flights to Calgary.
After years of lobbying from the business community, the industrial sector, tourism interests and the public, the Prince George Airport Authority announced Friday that an airline is introducing a connection between the two cities.
Central Mountain Air, through its partner airline Hawkair, will launch the service on June 3. Every weekday, their DeHavilland Dash-8 will start in Terrace at 3:50 p.m., stop in Prince George for a 5:15 p.m. departure, then land in Calgary at 8 p.m.
The next return flight starts in Calgary the next morning at 7:45, arrives in Prince George at 8:30 a.m., then on to Terrace by 9:55 a.m. It shaves several hours off the typical time it takes to fly between Prince George and Calgary now, via other airports.
The one-way cost of the Prince George-to-Calgary portion is $169 plus taxes and service fees.
"Calgary has been the number-one requested route out of YXS," said Prince George Airport Authority boss John Gibson. "This is absolutely super news."
"This new service builds on our reputation as Western Canada's preferred hub airport, finally opening the link between our great cities," said Calgary International Airport official Stephan Poirier.
"It doubles the daily seats to Terrace, and that is not a point to be lost," said Gibson. "The industrial community and the business community has really wanted that. Terrace is a key airport in the northwest for a lot of economic activity."
None of the other air carriers had expressed interest in the P.G.-Calgary service. It had been tried once before and did not succeed, but market conditions and the business model were much different, said Gibson.
"The airport will benefit from increased landing fees, but the airport authority has taken a very aggressive approach to helping establish this service," Gibson said. "If the flights are well used, I am told there would be strong consideration for increasing the service."
Many stakeholders stand to benefit from the Calgary-Prince George direct air service.
An obvious one was the oil and gas industry. Most petroleum companies are based in Calgary and have activities in the B.C. northeast. Prince George is a natural service centre, and it is also connected by air to those smaller communities where the exploration and extraction is happening.
Mining companies and other natural resources interests are active in the northwest region and these flights from Calgary carry on to Terrace after stopping in Prince George.
"Any time you have the ability to increase mobility of labour, it is a benefit to the central community," said Chamber of Commerce president Derek Dougherty, senior manager with Canadian Western Bank. "Prince George has been situated as a hub for some time now, and this helps greatly."
"It opens up an important market for Prince George at both ends of this route," said Tourism Prince George CEO Aidan Kelly. "There are a lot of connecting flight possibilities at each stop along the way, so this is not just about the ability to get quickly from Prince George to Terrace or to Calgary, it is all the other locations serviced from each of those airports. When I first took this job, the number one thing I wanted to see out of the Prince George Airport was direct flights to Calgary, and now we have that and more."
Kelly said the rubber tire traffic into Prince George was expected to increase, thanks to this new route, which would drive up hotel stays, meals, and other tourist services. Because of the flights' departure and arrival times, it created opportunities for people from surrounding communities to stay overnight here as part of their journey to and from Calgary and Terrace.
UNBC also stands to benefit from the new route, as it provides programs in many of the natural resource-based disciplines encouraged by Calgary-area firms.
"We want to work with the other partners to ensure these flights are a success," said UNBC's development manager Kathie Scouten., adding that university recruitment officers will have an easier time getting to and from Calgary.
Even the highest ranking Calgarian was welcome to come visit, said Prince George mayor Shari Green.
"Mayor [Naheed] Nenshi is a great leader in his community. I look forward to seeing him visit Prince George on a direct flight," said Green. "We [city council] did not lobby for this service, but it was an obvious wish of the business community. Our ability to go to and from Calgary in a single day still isn't there, but the natural resources sector, especially, is wanting to get to us and these flights will be great news for them, which represents a lot of benefits for Prince George."
