Float plane route could help woo Amazon
Robertson says the service is ‘overdue,’ and would be a boost to business
Direct floatplane flights connecting downtown Vancouver and Seattle are expected to be running regularly by next spring, but Vancouver’s mayor says the service can’t come soon enough.
And with hundreds of North American cities and regions currently vying to host a new second headquarters for tech giant Amazon, the folks behind Vancouver’s bid hope increased connectivity — including float planes as well as more futuristic modes of transport — along the so-called “Cascadia corridor” could boost Vancouver’s chances.
Last Thursday marked the deadline for proposals from North American cities trying to become the home of a second headquarters for Amazon, the Seattle-based online retailer. Metro Vancouver’s proposal, led by the Vancouver Economic Commission (VEC), was hand-delivered to Amazon last week, concluding a six-week collaboration between regional stakeholders at “a level unprecedented since the 2010 Winter Olympics,” according to a statement from the commission.
Vancouver is far from alone. A reported 238 cities and regions submitted proposals, Amazon said Monday. The company expects to invest more than US$5 billion in construction for the new facilities and create as many as 50,000 highpaying jobs.
The VEC proposal highlighted the location of the two Pacific Northwest cities, according to a statement from the commission, citing “millions of hours in reduced travel times and a minimized carbon footprint,” and stating the “region’s geographical proximity means unmatched accessibility.”
In an emailed statement Monday, VEC manager of research and analysis James Raymond said: “In our proposal to Amazon, we’ve really leaned into our proximity to Seattle, simply because there are so many options to take advantage of how short the distance is and how much of a logistical asset that is.”
The Vancouver-Seattle floatplane route — or “nerd bird,” as Raymond calls it — is just one of four interregional transport options the VEC has discussed over the past year, he said, along with high-speed rail, a hyperloop (a network of tubes zipping passengers around in pods at super-fast speeds), and a dedicated lane for autonomous or self-driving vehicles between Vancouver and Seattle.
This week, the VEC is bringing together local stakeholders for discussions with representatives from Washington and Oregon on a “high-speed Cascadia train line,” Raymond said.
Meanwhile, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson told Postmedia on Monday the floatplane route between the two downtown cores “is long overdue,” and “can’t happen soon enough.”
That lack of a downtown-to-downtown floatplane connection is “a limiting factor for all the companies doing business back and forth with Seattle, from Amazon and Microsoft to our local companies doing work in Seattle,” Robertson said. “It’s absurd that we don’t have regular-scheduled float planes between downtown Vancouver and Seattle . ... We have a lousy connection by road and airport — it’s not efficient.”
Harbour Air has been working out details on the plan with the Canada Border Services Agency, as Postmedia reported last month. An inquiry sent Monday to CBSA was not returned by deadline.
Robertson said he believed the Vancouver-Seattle service would be approved and operational “imminently,” adding “it’s bizarre” that it isn’t running already.
“It doesn’t help our case when CBSA hasn’t followed through with a long-overdue service. That’s the bottom line,” he said.
Harbour Air president Randy Wright said Monday the partnership with Washington-based Kenmore Air is still “on track” to begin operation by next spring, pending CBSA approval.
Some warn that Amazon’s jobs and economic activity could come with a cost. Last week, Seattlebased New York Times columnist Timothy Egan wrote of the “mixed blessing of Amazon,” describing concerns about rising housing costs and increased traffic in his hometown.