REGINA - Now that United Express is back with daily flights at Regina International Airport to Denver, attention is turning now to potentially attracting other airlines to the airport.
The indication at Regina Airport Authority’s business roundtable last Thursday is that they are hoping to attract Porter Airlines, who only recently gained a foothold in Saskatchewan. Porter launched their first daily flights from Saskatoon to Toronto a year ago.
Regina Airport Authority CEO James Bogusz called Porter the “one missing link that we do not have yet in the Queen City,” and says they are regularly marketing to them to try and bring them to Regina.
Porter has long been on the airport's wish list for attracting new airlines and new service. But Bogusz indicated to reporters that if Porter is to come to Regina, it would need to be a viable route.
“Our view on Porter is we want them to be very successful in Regina,” said Bogusz. “And one of the challenges they have is they're competing on the same route, even up in Saskatoon. They're flying to Toronto. Big airport, but everyone else flies there too. Very competitive.”
One potential way around this would be for Porter to offer direct flights to an unserved route: Ottawa.
“Our view for Porter, and we've talked to them very specifically about this route and we will continue to, is to consider Ottawa,” Bogusz said.
“Air Canada used to operate Ottawa, many of you will remember. They used to service Ottawa, they flipped to Montreal, which is great for us. We love Montreal. So our view on Porter is as they build out the Ottawa hub for them — this is going to be where they're putting a lot of aircraft into — we'd love to see them use that as not only to fly to Ottawa, but to connect to points beyond. Maybe you connect to Toronto, maybe you connect to Halifax, or other cities.”
Bogusz said they continue to talk with airlines about coming to Regina. He says Regina offers a “very competitive landscape” for an airline to come to Regina.
“We're by far the less expensive of the two major airports for them to land in Saskatchewan, so it's cheaper for Porter to operate. We have a very aggressive marketing program proven out through numerous airline startups, and they're aware of these things. So we're hopeful that in time, Southern Saskatchewan's airport will see the Embraer 195, 132 seat aircraft from Porter, beautifully configured. But until then, we're going to keep at them. We'll talk to them regularly, and we'll keep encouraging them to come.”
In the meantime, the Regina airport is encouraging people to use the flights currently available at the airport. Those include the new United Express route to Denver as well as WestJet’s direct route to Minneapolis-St. Paul which is into its second year.
“We're a little over one year into that commitment, and despite the headwinds, politically and otherwise, happening in the United States, the flight continues to have a very reasonable amount of passengers using the service,” said Bogusz.
He is encouraging travellers to use the Minneapolis-St. Paul flights, which like the United Express route to Denver is currently supported by a revenue guarantee from the provincial government and ultimately will need to stand on its own.
From the airport’s perspective, he said, the investments in their service have been “great moves for our local community.”
“Frankly, we would not have service to Denver, and we certainly wouldn't have service to Minneapolis if there wasn't some risk taken on by our local community in the form of revenue guarantees or incentives.”
For bargain hunters, Bogusz notes that the Minneapolis flights are very cheap at the moment.
“There's some incredible deals available in Minneapolis,” Bogusz said. “Go to WestJet's website, find an ultra basic fare. It's very inexpensive to get away.”
