There is a sad update to this story. From this week's Gander Beacon:
Gander International Airport to see cut in air serviceBy JANICE HENSTRIDGE, The Beacon
Gander International Airport will see a loss in service as a result of cuts to Air Nova's fall schedule due to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.
There will now be no flights from Deer Lake to Gander, and flights from Gander to Halifax will be serviced via St. John's or Stephenville.
To compensate for the loss, a new daily Dash 8 service will be added from Gander via Stephenville into Halifax. The number of daily Beech 1900 flights from Gander to St. John's will also be increased from five to six.
"We're certainly going to lose a substantial amount of revenue," said Gary Vey, CEO and president of the Gander International Airport Authority Inc. "Hopefully not the amount we had earlier anticipated, but it's going to depend on how many folks use the service from here to St. John's because Air Nova is attempting to put people through St. John's rather than provide a direct link to Halifax and beyond."
While it is still uncertain as the exact amount of revenue that will be lost by the airport, Mr. Vey said there will be a direct hit in landing fees in the range of a quarter million dollars. . .
A substantial hit for a town of 10,000. A long article, dated Sept 17-23, from the Gander Beacon detailing the help the residents gave passagers is here:
Thirty-seven diverted planes lined the runways of Gander International Airport after terrorist attacks in the U.S., leaving the region to aid about 6,500 stranded passengers. Courtesy of 103 Search and Rescue. . . continued here