Sign of the times
Airlines report heavy travel from Newfoundland to Alberta
http://www.thetelegram.com/index.cfm?sid=45096&sc=79 [St John's Nfld]
PETER WALSH
The Telegram
Canada’s major airlines are reporting brisk business this summer on flights from Newfoundland to Alberta.
WestJet added the province’s only non-stop flight from St. John’s to Calgary this summer.
Rival Air Canada says its Newfoundland to Alberta services introduced in 2006 are “popular” again this year. Neither airline would release specific numbers, but both say business on the routes is going well.
WestJet spokeswoman Gillian Bentley said out-migration to Alberta played a role in WestJet’s decision to add the non-stop flight.
“The service was introduced because of the strong connection between Newfoundland and Alberta, for labour reasons, but also for families visiting for vacations. Calgary offers easy connections to Edmonton, Grande Prairie and Fort McMurray.”
The flight also makes getting to Red Deer easier. That’s where newlyweds Jennifer and Russell Davis were heading as they checked their bags at St. John’s International Airport and prepared to board.
The Davis’ are from Conception Bay South and returned to Newfoundland for their July wedding.
They moved to Red Deer, Alta., in October 2006 and don’t expect to live in Newfoundland anytime soon. Russell Davis is a foreman for a housing company that builds roof trusses.
“I’m working the same job as I had in Newfoundland and I’m making three times the money in Red Deer. Even though housing is more expensive, it still works out to be more.”
Jennifer, as only a newlywed can, proudly interjects.
“He made foreman within six months.” She is equally enthusiastic about her new life in Canada’s West.
“It’s nice to come home to visit, but we’re making Red Deer our new home. There’s more money and opportunities. I can’t wait to go back. When we come back here, we see the same people doing the same things and nothing’s really changed. We’re going to build a house when we go back.”
Some passengers were using the non-stop flight to visit friends. Krista Parsons was on her way to the Calgary Stampede. Parsons lives in St. John’s. She’s the exception among her friends. Many now live in Calgary.
“There are too many people to count really. It’s definitely over 10. They work in anything from accounting to general trades.”
Last year Air Canada — responding to the booming Alberta oil sands economy — scheduled a flight from St. John’s that stops in Toronto and continues directly to Fort McMurray. Passengers leaving St. John’s do not have to change planes. The flight is timed to add passengers from other flights from Atlantic Canada.
Air Canada also sells multi-pass tickets for the St. John’s to Fort McMurray route. Spokeswoman Isabelle Arthur wouldn’t release specific numbers but said the service is performing well.
“Let’s quantify it by saying the St. John’s to Fort McMurray market is a daily service so it just shows the demand is present for this service and it’s going to continue. And it’s the same thing with the passes. It’s been popular and people are buying it more than once.”
Although out-migration has slowed compared to the exodus brought on by the cod moratorium in 1992, Newfoundland is one of only two Canadian provinces that experienced population decline in Canada’s most recent census.
Saskatchewan is the other. Earlier this year the Bank of Canada predicted Atlantic Canada’s labour migration trend to Alberta would continue.
The demand is great enough that Air Canada will continue its Fort McMurray service year round. WestJet, however, expects the demand will drop off for its non-stop flight from St. John’s to Calgary.
It will end the service in October.
