Facing the certain closure of its biggest employer, the northern community of Bathurst is looking to its airport to become an economic hub for the region in the near future.As Xstrata Zinc anticipates winding down its operations sometime in 2013, the Northern New Brunswick Airport Authority is exploring the possibility of offering regular flights to serve a mining community in western Labrador.

What we’re trying to do is open the door to that link for future development, said Jennifer Henry, executive director of the airport authority.The Bathurst Airport already has infrequent flights to Wabush Airport outside of Labrador City, a centre for iron ore mining. Henry said the authority has had discussions with Provincial Airlines, a St. John’s-based charter service, to potentially establish something more structured for when demand spikes in the labour market.Xstrata Mining has been a mainstay of the Chaleur region’s economy for nearly five decades. But that’s about to fade away. The company has said previously that in a best-case scenario it will remain open until early 2013.

About half of the mine’s 900 employees will be eligible for a full pension, leaving the other half out looking for work.I think the expertise and knowledge we’ve developed over the years is now in demand and it’s exportable, said Donald Hammond, executive director of Enterprise Chaleur.What we’ll see more and more over the years is charter flights from New Brunswick, Hammond said.When you look at the project prospects in eastern Canada in the next five to 10 years, a lot of those jobs are in the mining sector.People want to stay here,Henry said.A lot of people have already taken opportunities out west, and that means going away for four to six weeks at a time.

Henry said for people in the region already commuting to and from northern Alberta, the hour-and-15-minute flight to Labrador holds a strong appeal.Fort McMurray is not really a place to live, it’s a place to go and work. There’s no supporting infrastructure for cultural development or families,Henry said. For workers to displace their entire families there, it’s a big decision.She said 27 per cent of the airport’s 40,000 passengers a year head west for work, a number that’s sure to grow when the mine closes. The number of people in the Chaleur area who work in the oil patch is about 3,000.Henry said people from the region could fly into Labrador for their week-long shift, and “then come back home and enjoy a better quality of life.”