Quote:
Originally Posted by MonctonRad
Found this Porter destination map on the [Halifax] Stanfield thread on SSP:
Of note is they do not show YSJ as a potential future destination. This lends credence to the rumour that if a new route to YHU is in development, then it will be served by PASCAN and not Porter.
YHZ is now listed as one of four Porter hub airports.
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If there's ever been a better map/reason to combine YSJ/YFC, I've yet to see it.
YSJ is now at the mercy of Air Canada, and Pascan.
Two airlines based out of Quebec that only care about milking money out of business, and wealthy travellers living in The Saint John Region. That's not a great outlook for possible the next decade.
If YSJ can't even get Porter back, and Flair Airlines remains our best hope to have any sort of budget friendly flights out of Saint John, then one of our government's only options is to subsidize flights. That's an alright short term strategy, but not sustainable or at least very justifiable, since it would still be the richest in society who would getting the most benefit of massive government subsidies. A new airport; however, would have much bigger long term economic potential.
Fredericton doesn't have the rail connections, but it does have the trans Canada highway, which gives it a strategic advantage as a cargo airport, unlike YSJ. If YFC and YSJ both transitioned to becoming cargo focussed airport, combined with multiple new intermodal intermodal logistics parks between YSJ, Port Saint John, the new combined airport, and YFC... The Saint John and Fredericton regions could both become far more relevant in the logistics and supply game. That new airport could also attract West Jet and Porter and possibly other airlines both passenger and cargo to invest in new routes.
We've been living in the time of "just in time" production for decades now, and having extensive transportation and logistics capabilities would help both cities and regions compete and gain relevancy in the global economy. The United States and Canada still make a lot of manufactured goods, and the Port of Saint John combined with investments in intermodal logistics facilities, transitioning YFC/YSJ to focus on cargo, building a new modern airport between Fredericton and Saint John, and investing in bridges across the Kingston Peninsula, could position both region regions to become fare more relevant in the global supply chain and logistics game.
Port Saint John and the YFC could really market themselves as a quicker option to compete with Halifax, as could the new combined airport, and YSJ. Goods can get via highway from Ontario and Quebec to YFC faster than they can get to YHZ, and vice versa.
The Port of Saint John, YSJ, YFC, as well as the new airport would all be substantially closer to every single major manufacturing centre in the US and Canada by rail, highway, and air than The Port of Halifax and YHZ. "Just in time" matters... and if our airports, ports, highways, and railways can facilitate the demands of global supply networks faster than Halifax... New Brunswick can carve out a niche. Port Saint John already has the only direct rail connection to Mexico on the entire Northeast Seaboard, via CPKC.
There's all kinds of economic incentive to make these big investments, we just need a government (both provincial and federal) with the right vision to make and willing to spend the funds and political capital to make big economic projects priorities, which is unfortunately very rare in the modern era. No great entrepreneurs or politicians have ever got anywhere without taking any risks or going into debt. We unfortunately have the lamest penny pincher premier in our history right now, with perhaps the least inspiring long term vision for the province of any premier in modern history. Higgs seems to only care about paying off public debt, even if his spending averse nature actually risks the long term economic future of NB. Investing in a new airport for Fredericton and Saint John wouldn't just benefit the economy, it would benefit the people of NB too... something Higgs has never really seemed to prioritize.
The Port of Saint John already plans to reach 800,000 TEU with cargo shipping... investing in new airport, better highways, bridges, and new logistics facilities, could help the port could crack 1,000,000 TEU.