Business travellers and professionals can now avoid waiting at the airport for a regularly scheduled flight aboard Hawkair or Air Canada Jazz as HeliJet introduced year-round learjet service to the North Coast.
When not committed to serving existing pre-arranged passenger service, the company is making available a six-passenger jet capable at travelling at over 500 miles per hour. HeliJet vice-president of operations Rick Hill said the idea of jet service to Prince Rupert came from discussions with an existing client using helicopter charters.
"They have a need to come in and out of Prince Rupert quickly, and the speed of service that comes with a chartered jet compared to the current scheduled service makes it an attractive offering," he said.
While the jet service may not be comparable dollar-for-dollar to scheduled service, money saved by not having to pay for the hours spent waiting for a flight and, potentially, costs associated with hotels and meals makes it a viable alternative. Hill said he sees a rise in demand for the service with the numerous projects being proposed for the northwest.
"If you look at the number of engineers and consultants looking to get in and out of town quickly, it makes sense... There is going to be a need to get in and out quickly without having to wait for scheduled service," he said, noting that in business time is money.
"We look at it as an area to grow with all of the activity taking place in the area."
Hill expected the jet service to launch around May 28, service that followed the earlier launch of summer jet service to Port Hardy. Travel time from Vancouver to Prince Rupert is jut over an hour.