Revenue losses ground flights at Earlton airport.

• Author: Wareing, Andrew
• Position: Timiskaming & region: special report - Brief Article

Air passenger service came to a standstill this spring at Earlton Airport following a massive decline in passengers, but efforts are underway to re-introduce the service.

Earlton Airport manager Dalton Potter says Air North experienced a 60-per-cent decline in business during the buildup to the Iraq war and at the height of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) scare in Toronto.

Air North charters a Beech King Air 200 from Chatham-based Sontair to provide the service.

"Our aspirations are to restore the air service; we just don't have a specific time mind," says Dalton.

The air service averaged between 60 to 90 passengers per week prior to the war and SARS scare, then plunged to between 20 and 30 passengers, he says.

The drop translated into a $15,000 to $20,000 cost burden on the airport so the decision was made by the Earlton-Timiskaming Regional Airport Advisory Committee, effective May 2, to cut the air charter service temporarily.

"It's not only happening here, says Dalton. "This is something that's happening all over Ontario. There are airlines going out of...