Starlink fulfils government request

By Michael Gorman

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

Officials with Starlink Aviation say they have complied with the province’s request for a business plan and are now waiting for word from the government.

Brenda Libby, regional sales manager for Starlink, said the company’s president, Glen Lynch met with the minister of economic development last week to present what Libby called “an excellent business plan.”

Now they will wait to see what happens as the province analyses the information.

Starlink’s operations ended abruptly when it was announced that a $2-million fund intended to help sustain the company as they endeavored to establish service was depleted. When the fund was announced last February at the launch of the service, the expectation was that it would last four or five years and be reviewed annually.

Meanwhile, David Rankin, executive director of the Yarmouth International Airport Corporation, said that group continues to pursue carriers to serve the area. “We’re still very committed to finding air service in Yarmouth,” he said.

Rankin said he believes the case has been made and the numbers support air service for the area. The group is looking several Canadian-based carriers and some U.S.-based carriers have also shown interest.

With respect to the faster-than-expected use of the fund, Libby said it was a combination of perhaps unrealistic expectations of what getting the service running would cost as well as possible miscalculations on the company’s part. “You come in here without having had air service for a number of years, the economy was a down economy, we start in February with an aggressive schedule — there are a lot of factors involved in it but certainly to run an air service in this area right now, in these economic times was something that we didn’t have any institutional knowledge on.”

After nine months, Libby said that’s changed. Armed with the new information, she believes the company is ready to begin making inroads. “Our yield management expert (has) put together a schedule that makes sense and will work and is based on nine months of actual, factual knowledge, and that’s something we didn’t have — no one had — going into this project.”

So how much is this knowledge worth? Libby says quite a bit. There is still talk, at least from the Starlink camp, that there could be a federal grant of as much as $3 million on the horizon, and Libby said that could be on the table with or without the province.

But if $2 million was used in less than a year, could that newfound knowledge really allow the company to use an infusion of $3 million in a more conservative fashion? “100 per cent yes,” said Libby. “(Our yield manager) is confident with the numbers we saw here . . . that the need is there. He’s confident the whole service will work and can work.”

Rankin agreed that more money would be required to get air service back in Yarmouth, however he wasn’t ready to say how much. “You would need some type of subsidy to get the service started because it’s going to be hard to attract a carrier in without that,” he said, adding that the board is in the process of analyzing the numbers, figuring out what went right and what went wrong with the latest venture and trying to determine what would be required in terms of support for the future. “It would still be a significant amount,” said Rankin, “but given the current data available you should have a good idea as to whether or not the service can stand alone at the end of 12 to 14 months. It may not be profitable at that point, but you should have enough growth to say, ‘ok, this is going to make it, let’s keep going.’”

There is also talk, were Starlink to renew service, of other businesses such as a flight school or flight mechanic program coming to the airport. Libby said the idea behind such projects would be to maximize the potential of the airport. “Southwest Nova needs to grow,” she said. “If we’re capable of being part of the team that brings new development and opportunity to Southwest Nova, we’re going to all benefit at the end of the day.”

Rankin said they have talked previously with the South West Shore Development Authority regarding a European flight training school and/or establishing an airplane maintenance school at the airport. Although these ideas were initially tied to the composite manufacturing project with Xperion, Rankin said they could go ahead on their own if there were willing partners.

There is a large amount of land and several buildings not being used on the airport property, said Rankin, and maximizing that potential would further enhance the marketability of the facility.

No one from the province’s department of economic and rural development was available for comment on this story before press time.