The number of scheduled charter flights into Revelstoke will double next winter.
Revelstoke council agreed on Tuesday to up its funding guarantee for Revelstoke Air, allowing the number of Revelstoke–Vancouver flights to double to 32 return trips in 2018, from 16 last winter.
The increase means the city is upping its commitment to guarantee the flights to $90,700 from $37,500 last year, with the money coming from the Economic Opportunity Fund.
Revelstoke Mountain Resort and the Revelstoke Accommodation Association are expected to make similar commitments.
“I think there’s a huge value in helping this model succeed and eventually become a stand-alone business that services not only the resort community, but services regular people and the business community,” said Mayor Mark McKee. “Having another mode of transport in and out of Revelstoke is going to benefit everybody.”
The money would only be used if the service posts a loss, which it did in 2017.
According to the financial statements of Revelstoke Air, which is operated by Everything Revelstoke, 405 out of 480 seats were sold in 2017, and the service brought in $86,400 against expenses of $111,078.
The city, RAA and RMR signed a contract with Everything Revelstoke in which they agreed to split the loss, while RAA covered the marketing costs. The city’s share for the flights ended up being $7,600, paid out of the Economic Opportunity Fund, according to a report to council by Nicole Fricot, the city’s director of economic development.
Despite the loss, the proponents want to double the number of return flights between Revelstoke and Vancouver. The total cost for the flights in 2018 is budgeted at $246,689.43 if they’re all sold out. At 50 per cent capacity, the cost would only be about $4,000 less.
When asked why they were increasing flights despite posting a loss, McKee replied, “I would say 85 per cent occupancy is pretty close to sold out. I would say there was more demand and people asking for more flights at more times to better accommodate them coming to the community.”
The budget for 2018 includes $15,000 for a reservation system, $12,941 to lease a bus to transport passengers once they’re in Revelstoke, and $167,837 to charter the planes. Most costs are fixed, with only a Vancouver airport fee and credit card costs increasing depending on occupancy.
“There’s several costs associated with this project that are base costs that we have to pay for no matter how many flights we do,” Fricot said. “The incremental costs of adding fights are not that high.”
Council unanimously supported doubling the number of flights.
“It is really key to developing the community and becoming more vital,” said councillor Connie Brothers. “The cost is small compared to the benefits we get from it.”
Coun. Linda Nixon supported the increase, but she cautioned against subsidizing the service for too long.
“I want council to be cautious going into a second year and that we closely monitor what’s going here and we ask for a timely report back to council on what’s happening to the money and the outcomes, because I don’t want to see a bigger loss next year,” she said.
Coun. Scott Duke agreed with Nixon, and said it shouldn’t be difficult for Everything Revelstoke to provide monthly reports to the city given the city’s financial commitment. He supported the increase in flights, noting: “Any business of that size in year one can’t expect to make a profit.”
