First, I should say that I am from away since my mother's family moved to Halifax from Mabou and my father’s family moved to Boston from Strathlorne. My wife and I live in Boston and we spend our summers in Baddeck.
I have heard about the possibility of having an airport near Inverness that could accommodate commercial flights from Boston and elsewhere.
At present, it takes at least half a day to fly from Boston to Cape Breton as there are no direct flights here. For us, we know how incredible Cape Breton is so we make the effort. That said, for our friends who are working and who have children, the thought of spending six or seven hours to get to a place that is 530 miles as the crow flies is a ‘game stopper.’
Cabot Links is now world famous and it will continue to attract people who can afford to fly to Cape Breton on their private jets and then spend an hour driving to Inverness. Having an airport in Inverness will undoubtedly increase tourism to Inverness but just this afternoon I saw a bus in Baddeck with a license plate that said Cabot 5 (one of Cabot’s Links Buses). The driver had just dropped off people to go sailing on The Amoeba.
All in all, I believe having direct flights to Inverness would be a ‘game changer’ for all of Cape Breton. On a selfish note, it will allow us to see many more of our friends and allow us to spend much more time in Cape Breton.
Jamie Fagan
(summer resident of Baddeck)
Boston, MA