It was not a record high for the day [16 +] but the 10 + degrees of yesterday had most people commenting on the heat. Even the odd fly was out. The evenings have been very warm too, good for the old heating bills.

One evening last week CBC Here & Now had a piece by Jeremy Eton on the high cost of air travel within the province. This came about from a government announcement of a possible 5 million dollar boondoggle for the airline industry; I won’t tackle the absurdity of that plan but rather Jeremy’s story out of Labrador West.

Seems people are squawking about the high cost of air travel from Lab West to anywhere in the province, it was claimed in the story that air travel from Lab West to anywhere else was the highest in the province. I figure of a thousand dollars round trip Wabush to St.John’s was quoted.

Now I agree that air travel in the province is very high, but to claim that the fares from Lab West are the highest is the province? Nothing could be further from the truth {thank you Danny].

With just a little web searching it became clear that the North Coast of Labrador has much higher fares to anywhere else in the province than Lab West. Actually I thought it was a given and most people new that already, but nothing like getting it in black and white is there.

Some background; Wabush is approximately 64 kilometers further from St. Johns than Nain is, that is the difference Nain Goose Bay Wabush Goose Bay.
The North Coast is serviced by two airlines with multiple flights 6 days a week. Wabush is serviced by just one airline; you can go either east to the island portion or west to Quebec.

Return fares Nain Goose Bay -$856.94
Return fares Wabush to Goose Bay-$576.84.

That is less money for more travel miles. And Wabush has advanced bookings and travel is on Dash 8 or Saab 340 compared to Twin Otter service on the coast.

Wabush to St.John’s return in my search came to $1,225.20.
Nain to St.John’s came to $1, 523.38 advanced, $1,600.22 no advance booking.

Now if the government was serious about attempting to lower air fares across the board and fairly, not just in the high population markets, it could look at lowering or subsidizing or god forbid eliminating the taxes and surcharges. The taxes and extras on the Nain Goose Bay section come to $160 and change.

So the bottom line is: Nain has higher air fares than Wabush, if CBC Goose Bay had a reporter, or a capital of the universe based senior producer interested in covering coastal issues maybe we would get a mention on the evening news without it having to be alcohol related.