News - Stephenville International Airport

STEPHENVILLE — The two words that sum up Stephenville resident Gerard Thistle’s thoughts on having Flair Air providing charter service to Stephenville Airport are “absolutely perfect.”

While waiting to board the aircraft early Thursday afternoon the employee of Albian Sands in Alberta said it was a great relief for him and his family to have the flight coming into Stephenville.

“It means now that my wife doesn’t have to be driving me to Deer Lake at 3 a.m. in all kinds of weather,” he said. “The flights out of Stephenville leave in the midday area and it’s so much easier for people living here in Bay St. George.”

Thistle, an electrician, has a lot of experience with flying back and forth to Alberta. He’s been doing it for five years now. With a previous company he worked for he had to come home on commercial flights, but enjoys the charter flights much better.

He said it’ was especially tough on his wife who has been the one bringing him back and forth to the airport in Deer Lake and he always worried about her on the highway after dropping him off.

The weather has been the biggest factor.

Thistle was one of 26 passengers who boarded the plane in Stephenville and he suspected there were likely about 120 passengers aboard the plane from the east coast of Newfoundland as it had been to St. John’s prior to coming to Stephenville.

The initial flight for Flair Air came into Stephenville early Wednesday afternoon when 21 passengers boarded.

“This would be people heading back to work after the Christmas break,” Thistle said. “There will be people coming and going each week on their rotations. I’m on a 20 day on, eight day off rotation,” he said.

Among the 26 passengers that boarded on Wednesday, about eight of them were from the Stephenville and Bay St. George region and others were from as far away as Blanc Sablon, Que.

Danny McCann, chairman of the Stephenville Airport Corporation, is pleased to see this charter flight utilizing a Boeing 737-400 series aircraft, which leaves Alberta and stops in Winnipeg and Hamilton.

“We know there are other charters from Alberta to this province and hope word gets around about our facilities in Stephenville and that they will use our airport for western Newfoundland passengers,” he said.

Meanwhile, Airport manager Larry Smith will talk about a twice-a-week service from Stephenville to Halifax at a meeting of the Bay St. George Chamber of Commerce taking place from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 16.

Daniel Paquet, chief executive officer of the service provider, StarLink Airlines, will also speak, while the guest speaker for the meeting will be Minister of Business Paul Oram. McCann said the Stephenville Airport Corporation has been talking about this service for some time with this airline and he’ll be looking forward to see what Paquet has to say when he comes visits the town.