02-02-2021, 11:45 AM
(This post was last modified: 02-02-2021, 11:47 AM by Coke6pk.
Edit Reason: Typo
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ac3r Wrote:It seems like there are always airlines saying they're going to start up operations here, but then quickly shut that down when they realize very few people want to fly out of Waterloo Region. WestJet is the only passenger airline that has managed to stick around (edit...FlyGTA and Bearskin may still use the airport? But they only fly tiny charter flights with propeller planes, no jets).
FlyGTA was a great marketing ploy for the Region. The only full flight (and I think full was 5 people) was a media trip. After that there were less than 5 trips that actually happened. The website showed SOLD OUT for a lot of flights, but there were no planes in YKF on any of those dates. The fact that FlyGTA is mentioned at all shows the impact that one media day had on the knowledge of the masses.
Bearskin flew (pre-COVID) students from the north to YKF to be bussed to the school for the blind in Brantford on a charter. Bearskin also has maintenance done at Chartright (formerly MillardAir Hanger), but they have no scheduled passenger operations.
My biggest issue with YKF is the Regional management, as opposed to a for-profit company. [ie. YHM is owned by the City of Hamilton, but managed by a Vancouver company]. There is no real pressure to perform better. As well, they bend to the complaints of "taxpayer complaints". Nolinor Aviation ran a successful flight to Baffin Island for miners. This brought both jobs to our region, as well as tax paying residents who lived here when not at the mine. [They were two weeks up, two weeks down]. Three residents of Hidden Valley (AKA: $$$) were successful in complaining enough to push Nolinor Aviation out to Pearson.
Fast forward to a few months ago, where a new discount airline (that is actually flying passengers) started up (OWG) at Pearson. Guess which former YKF charter airline runs OWG. [Hint: They might piss off rich residents, but would of been a shoo-in to have started OWG operations in YKF if we didn't piss them off]
Coke
* NOTE: Pre-pandemic, YKF was consistently between the 8th-12th busiest airport in Canada... hitting 6th once about 15 years ago.