Loss of Moncton-New York area flight concerns businesses
Some businesses in southeastern New Brunswick are concerned about the loss of a direct flight from the Greater Moncton International Airport to Newark Liberty International Airport.
United Airlines will stop flying into Moncton on Sept. 19 after offering a daily flight between Moncton and Newark, the company’s New York hub, since 2006.
A spokesperson for the airport authority says staff are now seeking another airline to take over the route to provide a direct route to the United States.
The loss of the flight into the New York area is frustrating some of the businesses in the region that relied on the connection.
Melanie Warner, the co-founder of DS & Co in Riverview, is affiliated with event planners in New York and she uses the flight almost once a week.
Her business costs are much lower in Riverview and the plane allows her to commute to New York in just two hours.
Warner said she is disappointed that more business people in New Brunswick aren't following her example.
She said often the plane is empty.
"I'll have six of my staff with me and we'll fill up the plane with that," she said.
Warner said she had planned to expand her business and hire more people. But now that she has to commute through Toronto she's not so sure it's cost effective.
"We're going to spend a lot more effort because one day is taken up with travel — two days really, there and back," she said.
"It's going to limit the amount of people that I send down from my companies, it's going to decrease my contracts and the negotiations that I currently have going on, the opportunity to maybe expand more into the United States and New York," Warner added.
"So those opportunities, I'm a bit fearful, that they are going to disappear."
Heather Anne Carson helps market start-up technology companies and 70 per cent of her work is in the United States.
She said she is also surprised at how few business travelers used the United Airlines flight to drum up business in New York.
Carson said a future airline will be looking for more commitments from businesses.
"We need to put our money where our mouth is," she said.
"We need to invest in that carrier that potentially brings that service to our region."
