Wednesday, February 24, 2021

With Air Service to Prince Rupert still suspended, a councillor comes up empty in his quest for word of progress towards a reversal

Prince Rupert's Airport Shuttle terminal is perhaps the loneliest 
place in the city these days, empty of travellers since January 17th.

For the third City Council session in a row, Councillor Gurvinder Randhawa left a meeting without anything new to share with those who have contacted him for any news on when Air Canada may resume service to Prince Rupert.

As it was at the February 8th Council session and that of January 27th, the topic of Prince Rupert's suspended service was raised at the end of this past Monday's session. 

With Mr. Randhawa once again asking Mayor Lee Brain if the city had anything new to share on the topic, noting how the ongoing suspension of service is stressful for many residents of the city who face a trip to Terrace at the moment for air service.

In reply, the mayor observed that at this time he had nothing to share with the community in the way of an update:

"I haven't heard anything yet Councillor Randhawa,  we just as a council I think approved that letter at the last meeting with our MP to send to Transport Canada. Once we have information, that information will probably be known at the same time in the community"

The letter that Mayor Brain referenced was introduced at the February 8th Council session, wth Skeena MP Taylor Bachrach looking to see the Federal Government take some action towards a solution for small communities such as Prince Rupert, that have had their service interrupted.

Air Canada service to Prince Rupert was suspended as of January 16th, part of some financial trimming by the airline in this time of COVID and leaving local residents with a ninety minute or so drive through winter weather to Terrace should they have travel requirements.

So far, other than the letter campaign launched by the MP, the city's elected officials have not outlined what other measures the community has taken on towards resolving the service concerns; or outline what other options, it any, that  they may be pursuing in order to get Prince Rupert back on a destination board somewhere.

The short discussion on the current suspended service can be viewed from the City's Video archive starting  at the 1 hour three minute mark.


On occasion the topic of the suspended service works its way onto the mayor's Social media outpost, as it did on Tuesday, with Mayor Brain offering the following reply to an inquiry


For more notes on Monday's Council session see our Council timeline Here.

Further items of interest on aviation in the Northwest can be explored here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.

No comments:

Post a Comment