Fourth Airline Lands In Terrace
By Black Press
Feb 02 2007
Vancouver-bound air passengers will have a fourth airline to choose from beginning March 12 when B.C.-based Pacific Coastal Airlines begins service in Terrace.
The company, founded more than 30 years ago and with its origins in Powell River, will be flying a 30-passenger Saab 340 on the Vancouver-Terrace run seven days a week, says company president Quentin Smith.
He said Pacific Coastal has been gradually expanding into the interior and north coast from original southerly coastal routes and has been looking at Terrace for the past three years.
The company did have a few talks with local carrier Hawkair about buying it before the latter went into bankruptcy protection in 2005, he said.
“But it just wasn’t feasible,” Smith continued of any Hawkair purchase plan.
Hawkair is now being bought by Alberta-based Bar XH.
Pacific Coastal also flies between Vancouver and Masset, into Williams Lake and into the Kootenays in addition to more southerly coastal locations. It has 20 aircraft, five of which are the Swedish-built Saab 340, 14 bases and more than 300 employees.
Smith said the company has concentrated on a gradual expansion, adding one route at a time and then adapting and adjusting to meet market demand.
“We may have a lot to do with Vancouver, but we see ourselves as being very community-oriented. And we can make adjustments quickly because of our size. And that’s been the key to our growth,” he said.
Smith estimates the Vancouver-Terrace flying time in the Saab 340 at approximately two hours, roughly the same as the Dash 8s now being used by Hawkair and Air Canada Jazz.
Based on expanding into the Interior, Smith is anticipating having a good number of Terrace-Vancouver passengers wanting to continue to Victoria.
“At that point you begin to feed yourself,” he said of the ability of Pacific Coastal to put arriving passengers on already-existing flights to Victoria from the South Terminal.
Pacific Coastal’s southerly routes include Powell River, Comox, Campbell River and, moving northerly, Port Hardy on Vancouver Island. In addition to Williams Lake in the Cariboo, it also flies into Anahim Lake. On the coast, stops include Rivers Inlet, Hakai Pass, Bella Coola, Ocean Falls, Bella Bella and Klemtu.
Smith said there’s room for another air service into Terrace based on continued passenger growth of the past several years.
The airport had a record year last year with 105,086 passenger movements recorded.
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© Copyright 2007 Williams Lake Tribune
