The group advocating for the direct flight from St. John’s to Dublin be reinstated, today presented the Minister of Tourism with a petition garnering over 2,400 signatures.
Both WestJet and Air Canada have discontinued direct flights between St. John’s and Ireland, and an online petition has been circulating for the past few months to get the flights back.
The group advocating for a direct flight to be reinstated from St. John’s to Dublin are at Confederation Building this afternoon to present their petition to Tourism Minister, @bernardjdavis.
The petition has over 2,400 signatures. @VOCMNEWS #nlpoli pic.twitter.com/rrhsdY7eSr
— Ben Murphy VOCM (@BenMurphyVOCM) October 30, 2019
Rosemary Flynn is from Dublin but lives in Ontario and has a daughter in Newfoundland. She says when the group met, people were angry about the cancellation. She says people didn’t know what was happening before the flight was already gone.
She says there seems to have been a lot of secrecy behind the decision. She believes that people were motivated by the lack of discussion around the removal of flights, ultimately making the petition a success.
Declan Flynn is also from Dublin. He says the flight is critical not just for tourism, but for business as well.
Using the IT industry as an example, he says you need to have a direct connection to customers, and office space that companies like Google and Facebook can easily access to work in Newfoundland.
Flynn says the province has a huge pool of talent going to waste because those businesses cannot easily come here.
. @bernardjdavis has been given to petition and he says he is leaving tomorrow for a meeting with both @WestJet and @AirCanada to discuss this very subject.
He says everyone is “on the same plane” with this one and will continue to work to get the flight reinstated. @VOCMNEWS pic.twitter.com/HJ269c9lWP
— Ben Murphy VOCM (@BenMurphyVOCM) October 30, 2019
Minister Bernard Davis was at Confederation Building and accepted the petition after speaking with those concerned.
He says he is leaving tomorrow to meet with WestJet and Air Canada to discuss the issue with them, and continue to work to get the flights reinstated.
