THUNDER BAY — Passenger service between Kenora and Thunder Bay has returned.
Kenora Airport CEO Shari Gentes was one of the six passengers on the first North Star Air flight between the two largest cities in Northwestern Ontario, which landed in Thunder Bay around 9:30 a.m. Thursday. The regional airline, which is partnered with 11 First Nations, announced the new service in December.
“The flight was great,” Gentes said shortly after landing in Thunder Bay. “It’s roomy, it’s got lots of room for leg room, seatbelts — everything’s comfortable.”
“Everybody gets their own window, everybody gets their own aisle — it was very nice.”
North Star is using its Pilatus PC-12 aircraft for the service. Company president and chief operating officer Jeff Stout has said those planes can seat up to nine people. Stout said Thursday’s first flight is the culmination of months of hard work between his company and the Kenora Airport.
“We’re really excited about the service, we think it’s going to be extremely successful,” he said. “We’re humbled to be connecting more northern communities … and enabling that collaboration, that commerce, shortening drive times for health care.”
“It’s really important and we’re excited.”
Officials in Kenora have said direct flights to Thunder Bay, where people can then connect to other airlines and larger centres, is much needed. On Thursday, Gentes said she’s expecting a lot of business, government and medical travel into her airport too.
“There’s lots of businesses or government organizations that need to come to Kenora, medical professionals that are coming in,” she said. “A lot of businesses who would not maybe have been coming as often will be using the flights now.”
“We’re going to keep track of it and see who’s using it.”
Another North Star flight from Thunder Bay back to Kenora was scheduled for Thursday afternoon. Stout said about four or five seats were booked for that trip as of Thursday morning.
He said, so far, bookings are where the company expected.
“We expected the service to start off a little slow as we get our name out there and start advertising it,” Stout said. “But happy to say there are a fair amount of bookings, at least for the first month.”
“Now, it’s a matter of getting the word out.”
Although he said he’s confident in how the flights are scheduled to facilitate connections with other airlines in Thunder Bay, the company will keep a close eye on flight times and may tweak its schedule based on customer feedback.
“It’s a new market for us, and we need to understand what the customer is looking for.”
The return of year-round scheduled passenger service means Kenora’s airport can again apply for federal airport capital improvement funding.
Gentes said the agreement between the Kenora Airport and North Star will have the airport authority helping out with promotion. She said other regional tourism organizations are also involved.
“Normally, airports don’t advertise, but we’re involved with marketing and doing a partnership with North Star in terms of promoting the service,” she said.
“It’s just exciting to see people going through the terminal again and it’s sort of a first step, we think, for developing the relationship with North Star and just expanding service for Kenora.”
