AIRPORT LOOKS SOUTH

New CEO eyes U.S. connections for more growth

The Regina Airport’s new CEO has high hopes for 2018 — maybe even Mile-High.

That’s of course in reference to Denver, the Mile-High City.

“We don’t currently have any year-round, trans-border service, daily, to the U.S.,” said James Bogusz, who noted Regina has lost a few destinations it once had, such as Denver, Chicago and Minneapolis.

Regaining such service looks to be a focus for the Victoria transplant, who says many Regina passengers are travelling to the United States each day, but through other Canadian airports.

“I did air service development for almost 10 years at YYJ ( Victoria’s airport),” said the CEO who took over his current role Feb. 1.

Regina, he said, must convince carriers that, if they fly here, not only will they fill seats but also make decent money.

“Denver is a big connection city. It’s a hub for United (Airlines),” he said, noting he has meetings scheduled this month to pitch carriers on the Queen City.

However, he feels selling the city may take some time.

“It’s not going to happen overnight,” he said, but added that because no carrier is currently flying the routes he’s eyeing, he can pitch to an airline that they would be “the only game in town.”

“I’ve never seen that before with an airport of our size,” he said, noting people fly from Regina to somewhere in the United States more than 200,000 times annually.

“What we want to find is the right hub,” he said. “Denver is a hub. It connects to so many other American cities.”

That said, Regina’s airport is already seeing some growth by way of passenger traffic in 2018. That follows a 3.5-per-cent reduction in passenger traffic last year, which Bogusz says was linked to the sluggish provincial economy.

“We are starting to see an uptick in people’s spending habits and, certainly, their confidence with the economy.”

Airport traffic provides a good metric in this way because air travel is often discretionary, he said.

“Especially in the wintertime, when a lot of our flights are to sunspot destinations.”

Those whose confidence in the economy hasn’t been rekindled just yet might like to know about the potential for “ultra low-cost” carriers to fly out of YQR.

“They’re starting to come into the Canadian market,” Bogusz said.

“We’ll be watching very closely who emerges.”

However, no talks are currently underway.