Port Hawkesbury town councillors have voted to explore talks with members of other communities to come up with a plan for integrated air travel in the region.
Brenda Chisholm-Beaton, the mayor of the town, says they want to use existing transportation infrastructure to connect all parts of the region without building a new airport in Inverness.
She says existing air infrastructure should be able to fulfill growing tourism needs without compromising other air services.
After a special council meeting Thursday, Chisholm-Beaton told The Hawk they want to start building a plan to connect the region.
“How can we, essentially, grow and connect the island of Cape Breton in a way that utilizes our two existing air assets?” she said. “We connect the entire island, even the farthest reaches, by coming up with a strategy- we’re working together so that we’re competing globally, rather than competing with each other internally on Cape Breton Island.”
Chisholm-Beaton said the goal is to get members from as many local communities, tourism operators and development partners at the table as possible.
She says they want to find a way to get local stakeholders to collaborate on regional air connectivity.
“Consultation will be extremely important, and working together will be extremely important,” she said. “We don’t know what the end result of this discussion will be, but all we know is that it’ll be good to get to a table to start.
Chisholm-Beaton said their counterparts with the Cape Breton Regional Municipality have made a similar commitment, so they’ll be reaching out to them as the other local airport administrator.
