News - Stephenville International Airport

STEPHENVILLE — There is a definite thirst for air service from Stephenville to the rest of Canada judging by the 250 people who attended a meeting for a proposed new service on Friday.

Starlink Aviation, a Quebec-based company, is looking at operating Monday to Friday with two flights a day, morning and evening, between Halifax and Stephenville with a 27-passenger seat Embraer 120ER aircraft.

Daniel Paquet, vice-president of business development with Starlink, said the company has worked out a marketing plan and hopes with the support of the community the company can operate in Stephenville.

He pointed out that if the operation goes ahead, Stephenville would be the base for its Stephenville-Halifax run with the flight crews, maintenance and other related operations located in the town.

“The idea of putting the base here is that we want to create jobs that will be good for the local economy,” Paquet said.

Larry Smith, manager of Stephenville airport, was thrilled with the turnout for the meeting and said he knows the support is there because after word of the public meeting got out yesterday, they received 176 calls at the airport alone and he showed a stack of more than 200 emails that had been received from as far away as Fort McMurray.

Reg Mullett put forward the scenario that as soon as the airline would start up in Stephenville that another airline would be around to undercut them by offering lower rates.

“That’s happening to us on a daily basis in Quebec, where we’re linking Montreal to smaller communities and they’re trying to draw us into a price war; however, we’re ignoring them and simply fighting them with the quality of our service,” Paquet said. He said certainly some of their customers go over to the cheaper rates but Starlink is finding that over a bit of time they are returning.

Tony Young, owner-operator of Atlantic Escapes Travel, said while some people have questioned whether the area could support two flights a day that the numbers in southwestern Newfoundland is more than enough to support these flights.

“But in saying that, support has to come from the communities from the whole southwest coast area,” he said.

Young said sometimes when you book on the other airlines the fare is very high to get into Newfoundland, no matter what airport. He said sometimes when there is a separate booking you can actually save money and that should not be ruled out.

“This area has been screaming for an all-year service for a long while now and if it becomes a reality it needs to be supported,” Young said.