Yarmouth airport courting two carriers

By Michael Gorman

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

The man tasked with making things happen at the Yarmouth airport says Yarmouth could be getting an early Christmas present.

Jeff Monroe, the airport's contract manager and director of development, told The Vanguard last week that he is in serious dialogue with two carriers, one Canadian and one American, both of which he classified as small.

If things go according to plan, Monroe said some kind of passenger service could be established in Yarmouth before Christmas provided they secure commitments from companies "within the next two to three weeks. If not, our next window would be in the spring," he said.

Of the carriers he's talking with, Monroe said one would fly from Yarmouth to Halifax in a fashion that would allow connections to all Canadian flights coming in and out of Halifax while the other would be a direct flight to Portland, Maine and connect to tourism-based services.

"We know that there's a predominant business market into Halifax and we know that there's a predominant tourism based market into Portland," said Monroe.

"Obviously you've got the whole realm of things that you can hook up with in Halifax and then of course you've got Jet Blue, AirTran and the biggest (origin and destination) market for Yarmouth is into Florida. So the focus would be to try to connect people to any of the seven airlines that fly out of Portland . . . or the direct service into Halifax, mostly for the business or medical traveller."

Another aspect of air service some people are wondering about for the area is the ability to move cargo. Monroe said they are also looking at this, but added that passenger travel is their first priority. Once that is established they will turn their attention more to cargo.

Monroe said he's talked with area businesses that do a lot of shipping and is getting a sense for who would be interested in the ability to ship cargo by air. The fishery is also part of that conversation, he said.

"What we're really interested in is getting it into the markets that can move it faster," he said.

"On the heels (of establishing passenger service) we would find the appropriate aircraft (to meet shipping needs). It's absolutely in the planning, but we're going to take it in steps."

Monroe said they are also keeping an eye on the master plan for the Yarmouth port and what that could mean for the ability to ship product to the United States.