When Delta Air Lines announced earlier this summer that they were canceling their twice-daily Thunder Bay – Minneapolis – St. Paul flights, Bearskin jumped at the chance to expand into the United States.
Bearskin President Harvey Friesen says though Delta cancelled the flights due to passenger shortage, they’re optimistic that they can turn that around and boost ticket sales on those commuter flights.
“We do feel that there is potential there. With the right schedule and frequency, I think it can be grown again…We want to go in and try and market and redevelop it and grow the market back to what it had been even a year ago.”
Friesen says that although they are taking over the flights, they will be working with Delta Air Lines to match the commuter flight to connecting flights in the US along with regular Bearskin flights in Northwestern Ontario.
“We’re going to look at the best connecting times and then we would go from there with an interline fare so a reduced fare and combine both legs, whether it’s Thunder Bay to Minneapolis or Minneapolis to Thunder Bay with a fare from Minneapolis to wherever.”
Friesen adds that negotiations are still ongoing with Delta Air Lines but they are positive that they will be able to work out a deal. Plans for a smooth transition from Delta to Bearskin is also being looked at so commuters won’t have a long wait between the end of Delta’s contract and the start of Bearskin’s takeover in October.
Bearskin had control over the Thunder Bay – Minneapolis route in the early 1990s and is hoping that the transition back to that route will be an easy one.