DYER. Calgary is one of the areas we wanted

Western Bureau - After a 17-year hiatus, Air Canada on Saturday renewed its Calgary to Montego Bay service with 211 passengers on a flight that coincided with the airline's 50th anniversary celebrations.

Fifty years ago, Air Canada, then known as Trans-Canada Air Lines, began weekly air service between Canada and Montego Bay, when its propeller aircraft landed at the Montego Bay Airport on December 17, 1953.

Flight time out of Canada was then 11 hours with a stop in Nassau, Bahamas. Currently the airline offers year-round, daily non-stop service between Toronto and Montego Bay with 198 Boeing 767 aircraft and a flying time of only four hours. The carrier also offers seasonal non-stop weekly service to Montego Bay from Halifax ,Montreal, Winnipeg and Calgary.

Joy Schoeter, customer service manager, was ecstatic with the re-introduction of the Calgary destination.

MCNEILL. we have to commend, thank, and work with our partners who are bringing in the visitor

"The first time we were here was in 1986 and we have always wanted to return," she said. "We have had a great demand for this service for customers coming from Western Canada mainly, and so it's a great thing for us as we will be able to service not only Calgary, which is in Albertha, but also all of Western Canada."

President of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association, hotelier Godfrey Dyer, welcomed the reintroduction of the Calgary route.

"Calgary is one of the areas we wanted over the past years so it is good to see a flight coming out," he said. "So we welcome Air Canada flying in directly, nearly a six-hour flight, and coming in with 211 passengers. My information is it could have brought more people but they did not have enough hotel rooms over the period to accommodate them. It's a great thing happening to Jamaica."

Wykeham McNeill, the junior tourism minister spoke of the importance of airlift to a successful winter tourist season.

"We are looking forward to having a good tourism season and one of the reasons why we are having such a good season... (and) why we have such good seasons (in the past) is because we have tremendous airlift into Jamaica. And so we have to commend and thank, and work with our partners who are bringing in the visitors... all the airlines," he said.

He added: "With Air Canada today, . what is interesting is that they have four flights today which are all full. Which says a lot for Jamaica. It says a lot for the demand that we are experiencing out there in the market place."

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