The Town of Peace River is looking for an airline that can deliver scheduled passenger service at the airport. The town issued a statement following the news that Northern Air is putting an end to its scheduled route between the Peace River Regional Airport and Edmonton. In the statement, the town says it gets $1.1 million in federal funding through the Airport Capital Assistance Program (ACAP) because scheduled flights were provided in Peace River.
In the statement, the town says it has been working towards bringing a new provider to the airport to continue scheduled flights. “We did know this (cancellation of the service) was going to happen,” says Peace River Chief Administrative Officer, Christopher Parker. “We have been directly, and indirectly, talking with a couple of other businesses.”
Parker also mentions that finding a company to offer the service is a challenge. “There are only a few airlines that can provide service here,” states Parker. “It’s a challenging business so it’s not like everyone is saying ‘hey, we’ll be here.’” While Parker says the town is saddened to learn about the end of the service, it is glad that Northern Air will remain at the airport and continue its charter operations. “Northern Air is a good, strong, local company,” mentions Parker. “They have expanded their range of services throughout many other provinces and they will keep their headquarters here. That’s a major positive because now we are not looking at more job losses in this region.”
– Kenny Trenton, Trending 55 Newsroom
