MacArthur Airport courts Canadian carrier

When Air Canada officials visit Friday, Long Island MacArthur Airport employees know the drill: Make the visitors fall in love with the facility.

The Ronkonkoma airport is hosting Air Canada senior executives as the carrier explores a possible Islip-Toronto service.

Islip Supervisor Phil Nolan said research conducted by the town-owned airport shows 58 percent of international travelers in MacArthur's immediate catchment area of 1.7 million people are flying to Canada.

Nolan plans to be on hand Friday when Vijay Bathija, Air Canada's senior director of network planning, and Lisa Pierce, the airline's senior director of regional airlines, tour.

"The airport that makes flying a breeze would gain another wonderful destination," Nolan said of the prospective Toronto route. "This would be another addition to the convenience factor for our residents -- Long Islanders would no longer have to drive past MacArthur to JFK and LaGuardia."

Airline spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick told Newsday the visit was "a get-to-know-you" familiarization tour, but "typically, we don't discuss new routes." A decision would depend on what executives see Friday, he said.

Air Canada is operating at maximum fleet capacity with 37 Boeing 787s still on order, so adding destinations is not planned in the immediate future, but the carrier is "playing with a lot of new scenarios all the time," Fitzpatrick said.

"We visit with a lot of airports, but we've put a lot of emphasis on the U.S. Northeast. Toronto is an excellent connection point for people in the northeast to travel on to Asia or Europe," he said, adding the carrier had worked with Toronto terminal management to simplify connections for passengers, making it easier to travel on to third countries.

"It's better than the hassles of Chicago, say, in terms of congestion," Fitzpatrick said.

If secured, Air Canada would be the airport's first international commercial passenger service. International private charters fly in and out of MacArthur using a limited customs presence at the airport.

Port Washington-based aviation consultant Robert Mann said an Islip-Toronto route is "entirely feasible."

He noted that as a U.S. Customs "pre-cleared" airport, Toronto does not require MacArthur to have customs and border patrol facilities. Americans would arrive and depart MacArthur -- which has also been courting JetBlue, among other airlines -- as a domestic flight, with Islip-bound travelers clearing U.S. customs on departure from Toronto.

"I wouldn't discount it," said Mann. "The central question is whether there's a distinct business market originating and destined in central Long Island -- that's what Air Canada's marketing and planning staff will try to determine."

Of Friday's visit, MacArthur airport commissioner Teresa Rizzuto said: "Our goal is to show them what a wonderful asset this airport would be to them."