Prince George,  B.C. - Mayor Colin Kinsley spoke about his recent letter to Air Canada asking to reconsider the decision to cancel the direct flight from Prince George to Calgary effective June 2, 2008. 

 

“We are going to keep up the fight, we are not giving up as this is too good of a connection” says Kinsley. 

 

In the letter Mayor Kinsley spoke about the need for air transport between Northern B.C. and Alberta particularly with the growing mining, oil and gas industries which bring Alberta firms great opportunities.

 

Further options have been given to Air Canada during phone conversations and a meeting in Montreal between Tim McEwan, President and CEO of Initiatives Prince George and Ron Kaercher, Manager, Networking Planner of Air Canada. Options included a revised flight schedule to allow same day business travel, inclusion of a YXS-YYC service by Calgary based Dash 8 (100) aircraft and waiving landing fees for a further six months. 

 

The 64% load on the mid-day flight was not sufficient for Air Canada to keep the connection in Prince George.  Councillor Don Zurowski echoed “the need for the flight to be early morning and late evening“ to maximize the load.