WATCH: Inaugural WestJet flight to Lethbridge touches down

Lethbridge Mayor Chris Spearman said it was a monumental day not just for Lethbridge, but for a large part of southern Alberta.

“We have greater passenger service now. More competition from Lethbridge. It’s wonderful for economic development, and it’s wonderful for tourism. It enhances the ability to attract people to come to our region, it enhances the ability to attract more events to our region, and to make Lethbridge a really vibrant economic hub in southwest Alberta.”

WestJet Public Affairs Spokesperson Robert Palmer, says they had to wait until now to be able to offer services here, because they don’t have aircraft small enough to fly in and out of small airports.

“Up until this point, we haven’t had access to the right size of aircraft. The smallest aircraft WestJet has is a 78-seat Bombardier Q-400…it’s a tremendous aircraft, but it’s too large for this market.”

A capacity purchase agreement with Pacific Coastal allows them to have access to their planes, which are much more appropriately sized for smaller markets.

Pacific Coastal Director of Airports, Laura Nadin-Young, says the company is rapidly expanding.

“This is huge for our company. The partnership with WestJet just takes us in a whole new direction. The amount of growth that we’ve had, even this start-up venture is tremendous. We went from 300 to 450 employees.”

But Pacific Coastal Airlines has not had a perfect track record.

In 2008, two fatal airplane crashes involving their Grumman G-21 Goose aircraft occurred just three months apart in B.C.

One accident in which there were seven passengers and crew flying from Port Hardy to Chamiss Bay, had only two survivors. The other crash occurred when a plane carrying eight people on board from Vancouver International Airport to South Thormanby Island crashed. Only one person survived.

Flying during poor weather conditions and pilot decision making error were blamed for the Thormanby crash, while the Transportation Safety Board blamed aerodynamic stalling for the other crash.

However, Nadin-Young says Pacific Coastal has made changes since then and takes safety very seriously.

“I can assure you that they have learned from the past experience. Safety is our first priority at Pacific Coastal. We have a huge safety team now and are involved in our training right from pilots to flight attendants to our customer service… we’ve made many changes.”

Initially, there will be three flights a day between Calgary and Lethbridge on weekdays, with two flights on Saturdays. There will be six seats reserved for WestJet Plus customers, advanced boarding will be offered and there will be no-charge for two checked bags.

Palmer says if the forward bookings are any indication of the potential popularity of the new service, it could be a game-changer and could mean more local competition and more affordable flights.

“Right now, you’ll start to see fares fluctuate. But when the dust settles on this service in the next few months, what will be proven out is that we will have lowered fares between 30 and 50 per cent and we will have stimulated market travel by as much as 90 per cent.”

And Spearman is encouraging people to use the new services; not to hop in a car to make the two-hour drive to Calgary.

“People have to use the airport for it to be successful. Don’t drive to Calgary, don’t drive to Great Falls. Fly from Lethbridge at every possibly opportunity.”

by Lara Fominoff @LaraFominoff on Twitter and Geoff Smith @GeoffSmithLNN on Twitter

WATCH: Inaugural WestJet flight to Lethbridge touches down

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