Spokane-Calgary Flights Initiated
Whether for business or tourism, people who want to fly north for the winter can now go in luxury.
Canadian commuter airline Central Mountain Air recently opened a nonstop route between Spokane and Calgary to run three times each business day.
Brand new Beech 1900D aircraft will take 18 passengers on the one-hour trip over the border to do business with and spend money at the neighbors to the north.
Likewise, the new route will draw Canadian tourists and shoppers to the Spokane area, said Linda Miller, communications manager for the Spokane Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.
“There’s a big draw here with golf and shopping,” she said. “The Canadians are going to come. We are extremely excited that Mountain Air is here.”
CMA seems excited, too. The Spokane market was ready for the picking, said airline President Neil Blackwell.
“It has been part of our expansion plan for a while,” he said. “Now the time was ripe because of available equipment.”
The company had to wait for the planes to be ready. Several of the airline’s 10 new $4.5 million Beech 1900D’s, will be used for the Spokane-Calgary flights. “It’s the Cadillac of commuter aircraft,” Blackwell said.
Besides being relatively roomy, the plane has all-leather seats. “This is a dream to fly,” said Bernie Bailey, a CMA pilot. “For this size airplane, it has huge engines.”
CMA isn’t the first to try the Calgary-Spokane route. For a while in 1996, Canadian carrier Air B.C. provided service, but the route ended when the company changed corporate philosophy, said Todd Woodard, Spokane Airport spokesman.
That venture failed for a variety of reasons, but it wasn’t because the market wasn’t here, Blackwell said.
CMA, which Blackwell started 10 years ago as a charter airline for people wanting to hunt and fish, now serves 19 destinations. It connects with the AirBC/Air Canada network in Calgary for regional, trans-continental and international flights.
Success on this route would mean the planes would have to average about half-full occupancy. “Our first week was excellent,” said Peter Byrnes, director of marketing for CMA.
If route succeeds, additional flights might be added. Blackwell said that for competitive reasons he didn’t want to elaborate on possible new routes, but “we have more expansion plans in 1998 and they may include Washington State.”
CMA is based in Smithers, British Columbia, and is a partner in the Air Canada network. The larger company will handle the ticketing and baggage. In Spokane CMA has a ground and passenger handling contract with United Airlines.
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