It's been a particularly bad winter for thick, persistent fog on British Columbia's south coast.
Now one float plane operator is offering an alternative to socked-in passengers. Harbour Air says it will keep a wheeled plane on standby and has set up a process to determine when to start moving passengers from the dock to the tarmac.
Compared with float planes, which must have clear visibility to land, Harbour Air's wheeled planes use instruments to guide them and are more likely to be able to land in poor weather.
"This has been an abnormal year, compared with other years," Randy Wright, vice-president of business development at Harbour Air, told Business in Vancouver. "There have been more days down than usual."
At this time of year, Harbour Air's passengers are mostly travelling on business, Wright said.
"It's the confidence in our clientele that we can get you to your meeting," Wright said, "versus saying sorry, you can … take the ferry."
