Once a month, the Optometrist based in Abbotsford, Dr. Vicky Mahairhu, Fly from Vancouver to Fort Nelson, BC, a trip of more than 1,000 kilometers, to take care of patients in the community of the Northeast.
But every time it flies, Mahairhu said that there are last minute cancellations that affect it at any end, and both.
That is why he has written in the airline and the Regional Municipality of Rockies of the North, Mayor and Council of the Municipality, asking for a solution.
In February, Mahairhu’s flight to Fort Nelson, a community of approximately 2,600 people, according to the 2021 census, was canceled when he arrived at the airport to register. He was then forced to cancel all the appointments he had scheduled for his six days in Fort Nelson.
Then, in March, his flight back to Vancouver was canceled several times. His Monday flight was canceled, and he reserved on the next flight on Wednesday, but then that flight was canceled and was put on a Friday flight.
“I was there in Fort Nelson for an extra week, and I wasn’t prepared for that,” he told CBC’s Daybreak North Host, Carolina de Ryk, of what the mayor of the municipality describes as an unreliable air service.
Similar to the situation in February, he had to cancel his patient appointments in Abbotsford throughout that week.
In addition to that, he said, his children stayed at home without a father for several days.
“It is affecting my work, and it also stresses me when the children are at home and there is no father around,” said Mahairhu.
She is not the only person frustrated with flights: the Fort Nelson School administrator, Bill Dolan, shared her travel problems at a municipal meeting on March 24.
He said he was far from the community for six days to attend two days of meetings earlier this year.
“My meetings were late on Friday afternoon, I spent a day in Vancouver. The next day, I approached Prince George, but I had to spend the night,” he said. “The next morning, my flight was delayed, he spent half the day at the airport, then canceled. It flew to Vancouver in a different airline, Fort St. John flew.”
The only reason he could get home, said Dolan, is because a local contact connected him with someone who needed a vehicle taken to Fort Nelson, and could drive there.
“The schedule is limited and inconvenient,” he said.
During that same meeting, Fort Nelson resident, Mark Cripps, said that many older people in the community have to travel outside the community for medical appointments, which is a challenge when flights are canceled.
“It is becoming increasingly difficult to live here,” he said.
Only a commercial airline enters and leaves Fort Nelson: Central Mountain Air, which offers communities in BC and Alberta.
‘Challenges of the entire industry’
In a statement sent by email to CBC News, the president of Central Mountain Air, Doug McCrea, said she is aware of the concerns raised by people traveling inside and outside the community.
“Like many airlines, we are browsing the challenges of the entire industry, such as the limitations of pilots, which have impacted our programming and capacity,” he said. “While these factors are multifaceted, we are actively working on solutions to improve reliability and minimize future interruptions.”
McCrea did not expand what those solutions could be.
But Mahairhu said he starts with the least flight program.
“If you know they have pilots, maybe they only make a flight twice a week instead of three times a week,” he said, adding that there were no problems with cancellations when he was doing the walk during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In addition, Mahairhu wants the airline to stop canceling flights at the last minute.
“It would be good if there is an anticipated warning of one or two days if the flight is canceled.”
During the meeting of March 24, the Council seemed to agree that something should be done, starting with a conversation with the airline.
“Reliability problems are causing pain in our community,” said Mayor Rob Fraser.
