Boeing 737 carrying 72 workers from Greenfield Construction;
officials decline to confirm destination
by kris mcdavid
Times & Transcript Staff
MIRAMICHI - In places like Moncton, Fredericton, and Saint John, a simple
passenger aircraft landing and take-off isn't something that gathers much buzz, and with good cause - it happens multiple
times a day, every day of the week.
KRIS MCDAVID/TIMES & TRANSCRIPT
Luggage is loaded onto
the 737 aircraft at Miramichi Airport yesterday afternoon.
But in a place
like Miramichi, which has been without any form of passenger service in over a decade, when a gigantic Boeing 737 touches
down on your tarmac and dozens of passengers are escorted on board, it's a pretty big deal.
This was
the case just after 2:30 p.m. yesterday afternoon when a 737 belonging to Nolinor Aviation, a Montreal-based charter airline,
pulled up to the little terminal at the Miramichi Airport, where 72 passengers were waiting patiently for the signal to sign
in.
And so, for the first time since 1999 when InterCanadian Airlines stopped offering its daily flight
out of Miramichi, airport staff loaded luggage into the aircraft's cargo bay, passengers checked in, climbed aboard, and
by 3:30 p.m. the behemoth wheeled around, taxied to its runway, and lifted off.
Airport commissioner Thomas
Linkletter said that the fact a passenger jet this size can come into a place like Miramichi is a good showcase for what the
facility is capable of as it moves toward what it hopes is a bright and diversified future.
"We have
every piece of equipment we need to do this, so we're ready," Linkletter said. "It shows the rest of the province
that Miramichi is a place where you can send in charter flights and we can handle them - we're open, we're a real
airport, and we're not just a little strip of pavement out in the middle of nowhere."
But underlying
the spectacle and significance of the plane's arrival and departure was a conspicuous element of secrecy surrounding where
these passengers were headed.
Carolyn Tozer, daughter of former Atcon Group CEO Robbie Tozer, was visible
at the airport going over details with passengers and seeing them off onto the tarmac.
Tozer, who is listed
as sole director of year-old company Greenfield Construction, declined to share any information on the flight or its passengers
when asked by the Times & Transcript yesterday.
And when a couple of passengers were approached by media,
they said they were happy to be able to take a flight out of their hometown, but when asked where they were going an unidentified
man told them that speaking to the press was off limits.
Linkletter did shed some light on the situation
when he was asked, confirming that the flight was indeed made up of Greenfield employees, but said he was not at liberty to
say where they were heading.
"This is the reality of Miramichi; these men all seem to be 40-plus (years old) and
are doing whatever it takes to bring home a cheque so their families can stay in Miramichi, and it's a great testimony
to what this region is made of," he said. "But I can't say where (the flight) is going."
Linkletter
said that he expects this flight will be returning to the Miramichi Airport every two weeks, and hopefully more, for an undisclosed
period of time.
Airport manager Dale Mattinson also said he didn't know where in the world the plane
was going, adding "I just service the plane, that's all."
Either way, no matter where the
flight was going and why there was so much secrecy, Miramichi Mayor Gerry Cormier made sure he was at the airport to watch
the aircraft come in and see the workers off.
He said it's "just awesome" to see a passenger jet of this
size back in Miramichi, noting it's the first time a plane this large has landed here since roughly 1989.
But,
Cormier added, it's also a little bittersweet given that the aircraft's passengers are men who have to head presumably
out of province to find a job.
"We'd like to be able to have these men and women back here, but
for now they're going to bring their money back here so their families can stay in this area, but things are going to
change," Cormier said.
Since the Miramichi Airport lost its daily passenger flight in 1999, it has been known as
a mostly low-key facility that handles take-offs and landings of the mostly recreational variety.
Its main
tenant, currently, is Forest Protection Limited, which operates the province's fleet of water bombers out of a hangar
at the eastern edge of the airport near Route 11.
The Miramichi Airport has the longest potential runway
in Atlantic Canada at 10,000 feet, about 5,800 feet of which is authorized for use right now.
The airport
is awaiting word on funding requests to have the runway upgraded to its maximum length.
