A6

BY BILL CLARKE

Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

Speak Up

Bathurst wants to get a new airport — and that is drawing criticism from some people in Restigouche County.

The Bathurst Regional Airport Commission wants to build a new airport east of Bathurst. It would have a 7,000 foot runway rather than the 4,500 foot one at the present airport, and the estimated price tag is $25 million.

Mayor Sonia Roy of Charlo is critical of the plan.

"I don't understand why we have to go after a ($25 million) infrastructure when, 40 minutes away, we have one here (at Charlo)," she said. "So, I think we have to be reasonable and look at what we have before duplicating it 40 minutes away. I don't think we should be spending taxpayers' money on a new airport."

Asked if those on the Bathurst Regional Airport Commission are intentionally working against the Charlo airport, she said she didn't think so.

"I think they're fighting for their own," she said. "I can understand that, but you have to be realistic and look at one major airport in the north. That is enough. We should be looking at how to use this one."

Mayor Clem Tremblay of Dalhousie was even more critical. He reviewed the history of an effort to bring both the Bathurst and Charlo airports under a single commission.

Bathurst would concentrate on passenger service while Charlo would get the cargo traffic. He said that he, Mayor Roy, and some Dalhousie town councillors had attended a meeting a year and a half to two years ago, at which this idea was put forward. The idea was that they would all work together to get improved air service for the north.

Mayor Tremblay said that he felt the Bathurst airport officials had used Restigouche, using their numbers to get the population base sought by airlines considering providing service here.

"I don't like that at all," he said.

Mayor Tremblay said that at the time, having one commission seemed like a good idea, since Charlo had not been able to attract and airline. Concentrating on cargo seemed like a possible answer for the Charlo airport.

"When they said they wanted us to work together... at first it appeared to be okay, but that wasn't the case," he said. "We have a beautiful airport here. Why not use it?

"We were promised Charlo would get the cargo. Now, cargo goes to Moncton. Do you think you're going to take the cargo out of Moncton?"

Mr. Tremblay noted that between Moncton and Charlo, there is another airport at Miramichi. It was originally built for use by military jets and is now without airline service. He suggested that Miramichi would also want some sort of service, perhaps competing for cargo flights.

Aldeoda Losier, chairman of the Bathurst airport commission, downplayed the idea of using Charlo instead of building a new airport. In a telephone interview with the Tribune, he said that for any airport to be acceptable in the north, it has to be at or near Bathurst.

He said that a vice-president of Air Canada told him it was Bathurst or nowhere. This, he explained, was because to get the population base needed within one hour of the airport, it is even better if the airport is to the east of Bathurst. This brings in the population of the Acadian Peninsula and the north side of the Miramichi River.

Mr. Losier said a survey of business people in the area showed that only 24 per cent had flown out of Bathurst. The rest were driving to Moncton. Mr. Losier said that these business people want to be able to fly to Toronto. Now, Bathurst has two flights a day to Montreal, using a 37-seat plane.

He said that if they want to have flights to Toronto, they need a larger airport with an instrument landing system.

Charlo airport has a 6,000 foot runway and, until recently, had an instrument landing system. That was removed, but could be reinstalled.

Mr. Losier said that there should be one airport commission for the north, administering Charlo, Bathurst and the airport on the Acadian Peninsula.