Provincial, federal governments spending $9M on Maritime flights pilot project

A $9-million pilot project aims to improve connections between Maritime airports.

The Maritime provincial governments and Ottawa are spending more than $9 million on a three-year pilot project that will offer daily flights to and from major cities in the region.

The project, which is also funded by regional airports, will see PAL Airlines – which offers flights around Eastern Canada and Quebec – provide daily connections between Halifax, Sydney, Charlottetown, Fredericton and Moncton for the next three years.

Halifax will serve as a hub in this project.

“Regional air connectivity between New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia is essential to our growth by making it easier for people to move, work and do business across our shared region,” said Gilles LePage, New Brunswick minister of Environment and Climate Change, in a news release.

The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency is spending $5 million on the project. Nova Scotia is pitching in $2.9 million, P.E.I. is contributing $840,000 and New Brunswick is spending $458,000.

“This is a big deal,” said Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston. “Maritime provinces are so closely connected anyway with traditions and values and family connections and business connections so being able to move between the provinces is a really big deal.”

The project comes after Pascan Aviation withdrew from the McCurdy Sydney Airport in Cape Breton last month, ending its flights between Sydney and Halifax

“Restoring regional air access has been a top priority for our member airports, and this initiative is the result of years of collaborative effort,” said Nadia MacDonald, executive director of the Atlantic Canada Airports Association. “Strong air connections are vital, not only for business and tourism, but also for access to healthcare, education, and maintaining the ties that keep families and communities connected.”

-With files from CTV News Atlantic’s Derek Haggett