Count the Battlefords Chamber of Commerce directors as ready to line up for WestJet tickets at Cameron McIntosh Airport.
The Chamber directors passed a motion at Tuesday's meeting urging the City of North Battleford to pursue WestJet's proposed new regional airline to North Battleford.
The motion was pushed by director Ed Lee, who is keen on seeing WestJet bring regular commercial flights to the city.
He called it a chance to "get on the ground floor - it's a great opportunity for us." He pointed out regular commercial service could be good, not only for business coming into the Battlefords, but also for the population as a whole.
Executive director Linda Machniak agreed with Lee that "the city or a delegation needs to make its interest known."
Chamber directors were enthusiastic about attracting a regional airline and Lee's motion was carried unanimously by the board. A letter supporting efforts to attract WestJet Regional to North Battleford will now be prepared and sent to the City.
Plans for a proposed WestJet Regional carrier were announced earlier this year by the Calgary-based airline. It would be a short-haul regional carrier similar in operation to other regional carriers such as Air Canada Jazz, and would target communities currently unable to support the larger 737 aircraft currently in the WestJet fleet.
The service could offer those communities direct flights to cities such as Calgary, something unavailable to many of them at the moment.
According to WestJet the airline would launch in 2013 and use about 40 smaller turboprop aircraft. Aircraft being considered are Bombardier's Q400 NextGen and the French-made ATR-72-600.
The proposed new regional carrier was approved Feb. 8 by WestJet's employee-owners by a 91 per cent vote. The airline would be a wholly owned subsidiary of WestJet.
The next step, according to a WestJet news release issued that day, is to move to the next stage of planning, which will include sending out a request for proposals to the two aircraft manufacturers, Bombardier and ATR.
North Battleford would not be the only city seeking the service. Prince Albert is said to be interested, as are Brandon, Man. and Fort St. John and Penticton, B.C.
A question was raised at the Chamber meeting whether the infrastructure at Cameron McIntosh Airport would be able to handle such a service.
The airport itself is well used by private aircraft and should be able to handle smaller commercial aircraft as big as a 737.
However, Cameron McIntosh Airport has no commercial flights out of the airport, and in recent years the passenger terminal building and some runways had fallen into disrepair.
Efforts have stepped up in recent years to upgrade the airport and get it back into active service. Much of the work done has been to repair the terminal building.
Also repaired were the roof and boilers in the passenger terminal, which saw significant renovations and painting to the interior of the building. The renovated terminal was officially unveiled in June 2010.
The City's focus now is on upgrading the runways and tarmac. At Tuesday's meeting, Councillor Ron Crush, representing the City, said they had applied to the provincial and federal governments for grants to cover costs of upgrades, and they plan to make another application this year.
"This definitely piques my curiosity and interest," said Crush of the regional airline proposal.
