Brandon air service may not pose a huge threat

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/02/2012 (4988 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As a business owner responsible for hauling as many as 500 air travellers per week from Brandon to Winnipeg, Reg Hickmott has been a keen observer of Brandon’s push to secure WestJet air service.

“If they do this as a three-time-a-week service or a weekday basis, it won’t have the same impact as if they went seven days a week, east and west because that would reduce our demand,” said Hickmott, the owner of Brandon Air Shuttle. “We do a scheduled service and we’d need to make a major change to our licence to operate in Brandon. It wouldn’t be a big hairy deal for us because we’d like to keep doing what we are doing.”

Hickmott said the impact on his business can’t be known until WestJet solidifies its plans for a regional airline, and whether WestJet flies out of the Brandon Municipal Airport at all. However, he liked the idea of WestJet using smaller turbo-prop aircraft, which he said was the best way to operate here and be profitable.

“This is the first time somebody has thought to bring the proper-sized aircraft into Brandon,” Hickmott said. “Those 50-seaters are just about right for this market.”

But does that hurt their operations in Winnipeg?

“I’m sure they are smart enough to realize this, but if they take people out of Brandon, they will be competing with themselves because they are already getting the lion’s share of business out of Brandon,” Hickmott said. “Brandon people really like WestJet out of Winnipeg. They use them all the time. If they start picking up people here, it takes some of the demand off of their flights out of Winnipeg. We get people out of Moosomin, Sask. They come this way to take the shuttle in to Winnipeg. Back when the dollar was different, we’d get people from North Dakota too.”

Those operating Winnipeg’s shiny new Richardson International Airport say Brandon may not be a potential threat.

“Having WestJet serve our province to a greater degree is certainly beneficial for the province in terms of economic benefits,” said Christine Alongi, communications director for the Winnipeg Airport Authority.

“Is it more service for Winnipeg, more service for Brandon with their regional airline?” Alongi said. “If WestJet has a regional airline, I think there’s opportunities for both Winnipeg and Brandon, to tell you the truth. Some of our small regional markets are underserved right now. Regina, Saskatchewan, there’s opportunity for them to be served at a greater degree.”

However, some travellers from the Winnipeg area have sought cheaper flights and found them south of the border.

“You definitely have people that want to make that journey (to Grand Forks) and whether it’s a price point who look at those opportunities,” Alongi said. “As an airport authority here in Winnipeg, we have a capacity where we look for more opportunities for WestJet to provide more service. That will be the way we continue to move forward. I’m assuming Brandon will look at those opportunities and that’s great. It’s about serving your community.”

The online petition set up by Brandon’s economic development department has continued to grow by at least a couple hundred signatures a day.

At 7 p.m., the petition count was 5,663 signatures. The actual number of signatures is likely higher because of a paper petition at the Brandon economic development office, and the fact the change.org site does not keep real-time stats on signatures and is typically a couple of hundred signatures behind, said Sandy Trudel, Brandon’s economic development officer.

» kborkowsky@brandonsun.com