No news was bad news for North Battleford city council Monday when it came to WestJet's new regional airline.
Councillors noted that the airline - the new service is called Encore -announced news of its initial routes Feb 11.
There was a push for North Battleford to be one of the stops for the new airline. Unfortunately, North Battleford was not included in the announcement of the new routes.
They had plenty of disappointed company, though, as none of the routes went to Saskatchewan.
Instead, the British Columbia communities of Fort St. John and Nanaimo are the first new cities to receive Encore's service when it commences in June.
One route extends from Calgary to Fort St. John, Vancouver and Victoria, while the other is a direct route between Calgary and Nanaimo. Both will feature eastbound and westbound flights, with the new airline using 78-seat Bombardier Q400 turboprop aircraft.
In all, some 30 cities had expressed interest in the airline. It is expected more cities will be added to the route map in the future as WestJet Encore continues to add to its fleet.
Still, the news of Encore's latest plans disappointed councillors in North Battleford including Don Buglas.
"I was kind of hoping 'North Battleford, North Battleford' - darn!'" said Buglas, recounting his reaction when he heard the story on the news.
Mayor Ian Hamilton noted the city had expressed interest in WestJet Encore in conjunction with Prince Albert's bid, but noted Prince Albert was not selected, either.
Still, Hamilton held out the prospect that more joint efforts with Prince Albert could happen in the future to try and land the regional service.
"I think maybe we should further some discussions with the City of Prince Albert, because I think that would demonstrate our case in the future," he said.
