By Michael Gorman
THE VANGUARD
NovaNewsNow.com
It’s not been without its challenges, but the president of Twin Cities Air Service says he’s pleased with what they’re seeing from the run between Yarmouth and Portland, Maine.
Nate Humphrey said, prior to the figures being competed for July, that they are seeing the benefits of a schedule change made in June that now offers daily service on Sunday, Monday, Thursday and Friday, leaving Yarmouth at 4 p.m. each of those days.
“Overall it’s been good,” said Humphrey. “Sundays are just terrific.”
Humphrey admitted that going into the venture, which started in March, there were many things the company, which specializes in charter air service, didn’t have ready that people accustomed to regular air service have come to expect.
In the coming weeks Twin Cities will launch a new website complete with online booking and reservation capabilities, something Humphrey said has been time-consuming for the company to prepare but should provide for even better customer service and less work for his staff in the long run.
“We have a lot of people coming from all over the world connecting and going to Yarmouth,” he said.
It is this point that leads into the other challenge the people at Twin Cities continue to work on and that’s advertising.
Humphrey said the reality is much of their target market is people who don’t actually live in Portland but wish to travel to Nova Scotia via Portland; that means finding ways to get the word out to even more markets, something he believes is best done through the Internet and possibly linking with other airlines.
“Clearly, Portland, Maine is not the place to do all the advertising,” said Humphrey. “We’re trying to find better ways to advertise the service . . . We’ve had to work a lot harder than we expected to get the business.”
Still, despite all the challenges, Humphrey has high praise for the support and help they are receiving on this side of the border. The community in general, the airport’s board and executive director have all helped make things work to this point, he said
“We are making progress, but it’s a lot of work.”
As for what the possible return of ferry service in 2011 might mean for their service, Humphrey continues to stand by what he’s said since the first Twin Cities flight touched down in Yarmouth and that’s that the area needs both a ferry and air service.
Although Twin Cities might be benefiting from being the only link between Yarmouth and Maine during its inaugural months, over the long term Humphrey stresses the importance of having both services for the greater good of the region.
“If the area does not have a way for mass transportation . . . the area will possibly economically dry up. I think the ferry will compliment us and we’ll compliment the ferry.”
