The skies over Masset will be mighty crowded by the time summer rolls around. First, Hawkair announced it will be flying to Masset, and now Pacific Coastal Air is planning to do the same. The Vancouver-based airline serves many smaller coastal communities, including Port Hardy, Bella Bella, and Klemtu. Vice-President Spencer Smith said they have been thinking about connecting to Masset for a few years now, but were waiting to get a larger aircraft with a pressurized cabin that could handle the 'long-haul' from Vancouver. "We've been looking at it for awhile," he said, "and we don't take these decisions lightly - we don't have a habit of opening a new destination and then leaving." Mr. Smith said that they are mostly in it for the summer sportsfishing lodge traffic, and will operate daily runs to Vancouver, but they are also planning to offer year-round direct service to Vancouver three days a week.
The 19 passenger plane will start flying to the islands on May 2, and will do two weeks of Monday-Wednesday-Friday service before beginning daily service on May 16. The going rate for a one-way ticket to Vancouver will be around $209, he said.