A Seattle entrepreneur wants to start running daily Dash 7 flights between Sea-Tac International and Squamish. Cascadia Airlines hopes to be running up to five flights a day to the Squamish Airport and the initial benefitiary would be Whistler Resort, says Charles Beauchamp of Cascadia Airlines. Cascadia's target market is travellers who arrive in Seattle and are looking to expand their travels — just a bit. A 42-minute flight from Seattle gets travellers to Squamish and then on to Whistler by bus. "Many of the visitors to Whistler come to Vancouver International and then bus up," says Beauchamp. "We're trying to offer a quicker, cheaper way to get there. According to Beauchamp, the service could begin as soon as 1996, depending on how long it takes for the federal government to certify the Squamish Airport. Squamish Mayor Corinne Lonsdale says council there has approved an application for certification, but they have yet to endorse any plans for scheduled flights to the facility. "Accessing the Whistler market was one of the primary forces behind this proposal by Cascadia Air," says Lonsdale. Beauchamp says Cascadia would bring about 100 jobs to Squamish. Meanwhile, the $965,000 expansion and renovation is well underway at the Pemberton Airport. Beauchamp says plans to run daily flights to Pemberton will only bolster his business plan as he is looking at a different market than that sought by Blaine Haug, president of Pemberton's Prime Air. Haug says his company is almost ready to make some major announcements regarding air service to Pemberton.
