PG International Airport a Treat

Thursday, February 09, 2006 03:49 AM

It is being reported the end of the month flight by West Jet, flying on behalf of Transat Holidays is nearly booked solid. That suggests the city residents are happy to use the new found method of heading south and the tour operator is pleased with the result.

Within the past few weeks, a number of people have come forward to say they are about to take the plunge and head south to Mexico in order to support the new travel which enables us to fly directly out of Prince George to Mexico and back.

I have taken the trip and I must say what a pleasure it is to finally be able to leave this city and land at your destination in one day without being required to overnight in Vancouver adding a further two days to the trip along with the added expense both ways .

We have a winner here, our own Customs station, which is a plus in itself,our own international clearing area and a tour operator that is now saying it is pleased with the result so far.

Support the local air port in its efforts to promote this type of travel and we are all winners.

For my part, I , quite frankly, never thought I would see the day I would be flying internationally from this city. What a treat!

I’m Meisner and that is one man's opinion.

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Posted on Thursday, February 09, 2006 03:49 AM in Views by Ben Meisner

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Comments

Posted by: Palopu on February 9 2006 3:52 PM

Sounds good if you say it fast Ben, but what is really happening.

1. Initially the flight was to be Fort Mcmurray to Prince George to Mexico. Then when they couldnt get enough passengers interested from Fort McMurray they changed it to:

2. Victoria to Prince George to Mexico. This means that the people from Victoria must fly to Prince George, and then from Prince George to Mexico. On the return flight they must fly to Prince George and then back to Victoria. This adds approx 3 hours flying time to their trip. How long will they put up with that.

3. We may have our own Customs station but it seems to me that the Customs people are flown in from Vancouver to Clear passengers back into Prince George. Who pays for this??

Is it really an International Airport if we have to fly Customs here to clear people and we are running one flight a week to Mexico.

4. Hopefully at some point there would be enough business to originate a flight here directly to Mexico, however at this point in time it doesnt appear so. Adding 1000 Airmiles and presumably paying for Customs for each trip doenst look like a business plan that could last very long.

Posted by: fedup on February 9 2006 6:49 PM

I just wish they would run it into april so those who can't leave in the winter logging season could go.

Posted by: Percy on February 9 2006 9:55 PM

I think that this direct travel will be very popular. Especially if the flights are designed to cater to when we want to go.

I sat in Edmonton a few weekends ago waiting for my return flight through Vancouver to PG. As I waited in the terminal, I watched planes load and fly directly to Kelowna, another one directly to Victoria, I wondered why either of these planes couldn't drop me off in PG on the way buy? After all, they were all departing within an hour of each other. Makes you wonder who does the planning? Percy

Posted by: lunarcom on February 11 2006 5:53 PM

What I question in our quest to promote our airport / area as this great fantastic area is what is there really to attract a high-end tourist to our region ? What businesses are set up to take that tourist when they arrive and do something for or with them ?

My biggest shock about the airport is that we still load and depart the plane outside ! This day and age and given our climate I would have thought a priority would be to have gate loading right into the airplane rather than having to sit on the plane with the door open all the time.

Posted by: diplomat on February 12 2006 11:42 AM

The addition of a Jetway (enclosed passenger boarding bridge) is much needed.

For tourism and trade this is a vastly more important priority than a Jumbo Tron electronic replay board at the CN Centre.

Perhaps mother nature will be kind enough to make it rain cats and dogs whenever Victoria politicians arrive and depart from PG.

It would help if the wind would blow the rain horizontally at 50km/h when it is 3 or 4 degrees Celsius.