[MTL Lucas]

Originally Posted by HalifaxMtl666

Energy boom holds key to expanded air service

Sandra Davis
Telegraph-Journal


SAINT JOHN - By the end of the year, Saint John should know whether it will have a flight to Boston, New York - or both.

Right now, Mayor Norm McFarlane and the Board of Trade are surveying commercial clients to figure out how best frequent business flyers would be served.

"I hope by the end of the year we'll have a plan together," the mayor said Tuesday from Florida, where he is attending pension board trustee training.

Once the need has been determined, further meetings will be held with two interested U.S. carriers, who McFarlane declines to name. Negotiations have been going on for about six months between the Saint John Airport Authority, the city and the carriers.

Getting the proposed natural gas pipeline and establishing Saint John as the region's energy hub is key to beefing up the city's air service, the mayor said.

"We need more flights within Canada and certainly to the U.S. Once you've got the energy hub, other companies are going to want to locate here," he said.

When the mayor was in Boston last month, firms were talking about Saint John and expressed an interest in exploring business opportunities with the city, the mayor said.

"They all knew what was going on in Saint John," he said, and are interested to hear more about the energy hub because of the opportunities they see n Saint John in everything from IT to construction, petrochemical, plastics and the service industry.

"There are all kinds of things that energy will attract."

Earlier this month, Air Canada announced it is adding 27 new flights each week in and out of New Brunswick, including up to three flights a week from Saint John to Montreal and, as of Nov. 1, Air Canada Jazz upgraded its evening flights between Saint John and Halifax to a bigger plane, almost doubling its capacity.

Earlier this fall, Toronto-based SunWing Airlines announced it will offer direct flights from Saint John to the Dominican Republic, Florida and Mexico between March and May.

This is the first time Saint John area residents have been offered non-stop charter flights to southern destinations.

Saint John Airport CEO John Buchanan has said the city's position as an energy hub will increase the demand for flights and attract airlines.

That is great to hear - flying to and from Saint John was prohibitively expensive and limited for a long time - things seem to be improving.

I don't know why they don't try to land a flight to London or Paris via Zoom - surely Southern NB could support a twice-a-week trans-Atlantic flight.

It would also be ideal if SJ could have a flight to a big American hub - like Atlanta or Chicago, because it would bring many destinations much closer and would (I'm fairly certain) be quite profitable for the airline offering it.