The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Flin Flonners can expect to see a lot of new faces around town, as the community will soon have a regular air link with the remote reservation of Pukatawagan. As of April 2, Bakers Narrows Air Service will offer three flights a week to and from the community of about 1,500 people. "Flin Flon is becoming the central hub for northern residents to do their business and shopping," said chief pilot Brett Baynton. "So now Pukatawagan residents are going to have access to our shopping, to our business services, our education services, and our health services." The pilot said the flights will also provide business professionals and government employees with a new opportunity to visit Pukatawagan and provide services to its residents. Baynton and his family, which owns Bakers Narrows Lodge and its air service, have conducted an informal survey in Pukatawagan that found there was a demand for the flights. "The people in Pukatawagan are saying, 'We want to have a link to Flin Flon,'" he said, adding that the residents are eager to utilize the Flintoba Shopping Centre. Residents of Pukatawagan, located 120 kilometres north of Flin Flon, currently rely on a winter road, weekly rail services, and flights for a connection to larger centres. Baynton and his co-pilots will use a three-passenger, $150,000 Cessna aircraft to offer flights every Friday, Saturday and Monday. See 'Service' P.# Con't from P.# "If this service takes off like we think it's going to, we are fully prepared to upgrade the aircraft to a larger one," said the chief pilot, who has been flying since 1999. In the winter, the service will make use of the Flin Flon Municipal Airport; in the summer, Baynton will land the float plane on Lake Athapapuskow outside Bakers Narrows Lodge. Pukatawagan may just be the beginning of flight services connecting Flin Flon with remote communities. "I'd like to think we're just scratching the surface by starting the Pukatawagan run," said Baynton. "We're very open to ideas from members of the community for future expansion into some of these remote communities." The new Flin Flon-Pukatawagan service will provide local residents with a new means of transportation to Thompson. Baynton is looking to coordinate his schedule to link his flights with those of Calm Air, which offers flights between Pukatawagan and Thompson. Meanwhile, the Flin Flon and District Chamber of Commerce will continue with lobbying efforts to have an all-weather road established to connect Pukatawagan with Flin Flon. Chamber secretary Gordon Mitchell plans to take a resolution to that effect to the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce Annual General Meeting next month in Brandon. "The more people we have coming in, the better off we are," Mitchell, a former mayor of Flin Flon, told The Reminder last month. The province has not officially committed to a road for Pukatawagan but has investigated. Former transportation minister Steve Ashton told The Reminder in 2001 that the province sees the road as a necessity but would require money from both Pukatawagan and the federal government for it to become a reality. "We believe that, in the 21st century, we have to find ways to extend that access," he said.
