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The Bathurst Regional Airport is getting a new lease on life as it secured a deal to bring in a new carrier, following notice from Air Canada that it was stopping service to the small airport.
With up to $500,000 in provincial funding to start, Propair, a carrier based in Rouyn-Noranda, Que., will begin flying out of the airport on Jan. 31.
“We want to make sure that we provide to our passengers and our population of the northern part of the province the proper service so they can have daily flights with the opportunity of having the flexibility they need,” said Denis Roy, president of the Northern New Brunswick Airport Authority.
Roy said service will begin with seven flights a week from Bathurst to Montreal, four of which will be non-stop while the other three will stop in Quebec City.
Flights will soon increase to 10 times a week, and it will be 14 flights a week by mid-March. Roy said there is a “good intention” of increasing to 21 flights a week by June.
Quebec-based Propair says it will slowly increase flight frequencies from Bathurst in the coming months. (Victoria Walton/CBC)
From those flights, there are also direct connections to Ottawa, Sudbury and Rouyn-Noranda, according to a press release from the province.
The release also said one-way tickets are expected to be about $300 to $350.
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Airline steps in to keep air service at Bathurst airport
Propair will offer seven flights a week from Bathurst to Montreal, as Air Canada is poised to end service to the northern New Brunswick airport.
Roy said Bathurst was one of several small, regional Canadian airports notified by Air Canada in September it going to stop servicing the airport.
Roy said it wasn’t a question of demand, noting flights from Bathurst would often have upwards of 60 passengers on planes that could seat 70, but Air Canada was just “taking a different strategy.”
Roy said it was “not a good feeling” when Air Canada gave them notice, and he said the authority had “many” discussions with other airlines until they were approached by Propair.
Justin Lemieux, general manager of Propair, said with the province’s initial funding of $500,000, the company can commit to being in Bathurst for at least a year.
Justin Lemieux, general manager of Propair, said the carrier is perfect for Bathurst. (Victoria Walton/CBC)
But if demand is there, “we will be more than happy to increase the frequency of flight and be there for many years,” he said.
The hour and a half flight from Bathurst from Montreal will use an 18-seat Beechcraft 1900 aircraft.
Lemieux said Propair, which does commercial, charter and medical evacuation flights for rural, northern Quebec, understands the need for regional air accessibility.
“And I think we are the perfect fit for this region,” he said.
Acadie-Bathurst MP Serge Cormier said COVID-19 was devastating for the airport when flights were cut. But he said a government-funded study on the viability of the airport proved it could be profitable.
“It was possible to do business here at the airport in Bathurst … Without an airport, there’s no way for this region to thrive economically,” Cormier said.
“This is what we want, right? A service that’s going to be here full time that people are going to believe in.”