Cancelled flights in and out of small B.C. community making it 'harder and harder to live here': residents

Courtney Dickson · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 13, 2025 8:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

Once a month, Abbotsford-based optometrist Dr. Vicky Mahairhu flies from Vancouver to Fort Nelson, B.C., a much than 1,000 kilometre journey, to attraction for patients successful the northeastern community. 

But each clip she flies, Mahairhu said determination are last-minute cancellations that impact her connected either extremity — and sometimes both. 

That's wherefore she's written to the hose and the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality politician and council, calling for a solution. 

In February, Mahairhu's formation to Fort Nelson, a assemblage of astir 2,600 people, according to the 2021 census, was cancelled arsenic she arrived astatine the airdrome to cheque in. She was past forced to cancel each the appointments she had scheduled for her six days successful Fort Nelson. 

Then, successful March, her formation backmost to Vancouver was cancelled aggregate times. Her Monday formation was cancelled, and she was rebooked connected the adjacent formation retired connected Wednesday, but past that formation was cancelled, and she was enactment connected a Friday flight. 

"I was up determination successful Fort Nelson for an other week, and I was not prepared for that," she told CBC's Daybreak North host, Carolina de Ryk, of what the municipality's politician describes as unreliable hose service. 

Similar to the concern successful February, she had to cancel her diligent appointments successful Abbotsford for that full week. 

On apical of that, she said, her kids were near astatine location without a genitor for respective days. 

"It is affecting my work, and it is stressing maine retired excessively erstwhile the kids are astatine location and there's nary genitor around," Mahairhu said. 

She's not the lone idiosyncratic frustrated with flights: Fort Nelson schoolhouse trustee Bill Dolan shared his question woes astatine a municipal gathering connected March 24. 

He said helium was distant from the assemblage for six days to be 2 days' worthy of meetings earlier this year. 

"My meetings were done precocious successful the day connected Friday, spent a time successful Vancouver. The adjacent day, I got up to Prince George, but I had to stay overnight," helium said. "The adjacent morning, my formation was delayed, spent fractional the time successful the airport, past it was cancelled. Flew to Vancouver connected a antithetic airline, flew backmost up to Fort St. John."

The lone crushed helium was capable to get home, Dolan said, is due to the fact that a section interaction connected him with idiosyncratic who needed a conveyance driven to Fort Nelson, and helium was capable to thrust there. 

"The docket is limited, and it's inconvenient," helium said. 

During that aforesaid meeting, Fort Nelson nonmigratory Mark Cripps said galore seniors successful the assemblage person to question extracurricular the assemblage for aesculapian appointments, which is challenging erstwhile flights are being cancelled. 

"It's becoming harder and harder to unrecorded here," helium said. 

Only 1 commercialized hose flies successful and retired of Fort Nelson: Central Mountain Air, which services communities successful B.C. and Alberta. 

'Industry-wide challenges'

In an emailed connection to CBC News, Central Mountain Air president Doug Mccrea said helium is alert of concerns raised by radical travelling successful and retired of the community. 

"Like galore airlines, we are navigating industry-wide challenges, specified arsenic aviator constraints, which person impacted our scheduling and capacity," helium said. "While these factors are multifaceted, we are actively moving connected solutions to heighten reliability and minimize aboriginal disruptions."

Mccrea did not grow connected what those solutions mightiness be.

But Mahairhu said it starts with scheduling less flights. 

"If they cognize they're abbreviated of pilots, possibly conscionable bash a formation doubly a week alternatively of 3 times a week," she said, adding that determination were nary issues with cancellations erstwhile she was making the trek during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Additionally, Mahairhu wants the hose to halt cancelling flights astatine the past minute. 

"It would beryllium bully if 1 oregon 2 days beforehand announcement is fixed if the formation is cancelled."

During the March 24 meeting, assembly seemed to hold that thing needed to beryllium done, starting with a speech with the airline. 

"The reliability issues are causing grief successful our community," Mayor Rob Fraser said.