By Michael Gorman

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

Despite mounting challenges facing the airline industry the premier of Nova Scotia says people in the Yarmouth area should remain positive about the return of area service to the local airport.

Speaking from Halifax, Rodney MacDonald said his government's recent contribution of $250,000 to the local airport is a sign that they want to see it succeed.

"Given the opportunity, I would make that investment again," he said.

The struggles of the airline industry, especially in Canada, have been well documented in the last month. Jazz Air announced last week that they would be cutting 270 jobs. That comes on the heels of Air Canada announcing that they would cut 2,000 jobs, reduce service and the number of runs to certain areas and the creation of fuel surcharges on all of their tickets.

Adding to this is the growing concern of some residents about the amount of money local municipal units are committing to the airport. This year alone the town of Yarmouth is putting $152,000 towards the airport, the municipality of Yarmouth is contributing $225,000 and the municipality of Argyle is putting in $167,000. The municipality of Clare, which recently joined the airport commission, is also a funding partner. Some people are concerned that such amounts of money could be better spent elsewhere.

Yet despite this, the Premier maintained that people shouldn't give up on the idea of air service in Yarmouth. Beyond regular passenger service, MacDonald stressed the importance of the facility when it comes to attracting businesses interested in coming to the area.

"The investment in the airport in Yarmouth is a very good thing," he said. "I've met with interested companies who are looking at and giving strong consideration to Yarmouth as a direct result of the asset of the airport. And without the airport, that would mean that those jobs would not be going to Yarmouth. I expect to see some good news over the course of this year for the people of Yarmouth and it will be a direct result of the airport."

Beyond this refrain, which is becoming all too familiar, MacDonald said part of the success of the airport depends on finding what kind of service would be the best fit for this area.

"We have said for a very long time that we would like to see, you know, a return of some sort of service, you know, to Yarmouth. But the real question becomes what will that look like and what will bring more traffic to the airport there."