It’s official. The Edson Airport will begin offering commercial flights to and from Calgary starting June 6.
Last week Albertan airline company Integra Air announced that it would begin operating flights in and out of Edson four days a week, nearly a year after the airport got the green light to become a commercial airport.
Integra Air also operates out of Lethbridge, Edmonton, Cranbrook, and the small community of Bonnyville.
“We launched in Bonnyville last year and found great success. So, we started looking for somewhere on the Western side of the province—a place where lightning could strike twice,” said John Macek, owner of Integra Air.
After checking out several locations, Macek said he believes his company made the right decision.
“The people of Edson and Jasper were so friendly and so welcoming, and with the airport being the perfect size it was pretty much a no-brainer,” Macek said.
The flights will take place on a nine-seater plane. However, if the route becomes popular enough, Macek said they could expand service with an 18-seater plane.
“It all depends on demand,” Macek said. “So far things are looking good.”
The scheduled flight time is an hour. Each one-way ticket will cost $269 plus taxes and fees.
Once in Calgary the passengers will arrive at an Integra Air owned terminal, however, the company will provide a free shuttle to Calgary’s main terminal.
Tourism Jasper board chair Doug Goss said the new transportation option is a small, but important step for the town’s tourism industry.
“This gives Jasper the ability to attract international destination business and compete with other markets,” Goss said. “We’ve been injured to a great extent simply because we’re not close to an international airport.”
According to Goss, without commercial flights the town can’t compete with places like Banff and Canmore, which are within an hour and half drive to Calgary’s airport.
“This is the first step in our ability to offer a choice to international customers that may want to come to Jasper, but have been discouraged by the drive from the airport,” Goss said.
Tourism Jasper is hoping these new flights will eventually lead to a major expansion which would include a new terminal and multiple flights every day from several destinations.
“It’s a long way off, but if this goes the way it can then this will be one of the most significant changes that will have hit Jasper from a tourism perspective,” Goss said.
Along with being a potential tourism boost, Edson Airport manager Sam Shine says the flights will benefit businesses in the region— especially those who frequent Calgary for meetings.
“I’m also predicting we’ll see a lot of staff travelling to and from work. It enables people to be employed from further out and bring them in,” Shine said. “It will go over well with the transient people of the area.”
While commercial flights might be alluring for tourists and the region’s business travellers, questions remain whether the trek into Edson for a $300 flight will really be worth it.
Yellowhead MP Jim Eglinski seems to think so, but emphasized that for this business venture to flourish the local support must be strong.
“With any business it’s how the people are going to support the program which makes it viable or not,” Eglinski said. “I would encourage people to use the system because I would like to see it stay and hopefully expand.
“If you look at the alternative, this flight seems much more convenient than a full day of driving to Calgary.”
Unlike Eglinski, Jasper Mayor Richard Ireland hopes the new flights are utilized, but doesn’t believe their success rests with locals.
“I don’t think it was ever intended that it would be locals who sustain air traffic. The carriers have got to have the business case to maintain this initiative,” Ireland said. “And it seems to me that it is unlikely the local market is going to significantly impact that, but it is a great opportunity for locals as well.”
Ireland said research projections show up to 20 per cent of passengers travelling through the airport could wind up in Jasper.
The Edson Airport first got the green light to become a commercial airport last July after the federal government approved new regulations which provided the airport access to screening services from the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) —a key requirement in the process to becoming a fully functioning commercial airport.
To see if the commercial status would be viable, the region conducted a costly feasibility study and other research.
Tourism Jasper, Yellowhead County, Edson, Hinton and Jasper each pitched in $15,000 to pay for the study, which was then matched by the provincial government.
“With a regional push this is what we’re able to achieve,” Ireland said. “Independent of what happens on this particular project, just helping build those relationships on a regional level is a real benefit that flows out of this announcement.”
Kayla Byrne
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