Officials consider regular cargo flights from BIA

BANGOR – Hugh Reynolds, owner of Green Head Lobster Pound in Stonington, wants to at least triple his exports to Europe and beyond, but until recently the idea was virtually unthinkable because it was too expensive.

That may be changing as officials at Bangor International Airport held a meeting last week to discuss the prospects of expanding the number of regular cargo flights.

“We’re in a global economy and Bangor should be part of that,” Carolyn Hamm, owner of Galt Block Warehouse in Bangor, said after the meeting.

Polar Air Cargo, which canceled this year’s cargo flights in Halifax, Nova Scotia, may be interested in flights from BIA, acknowledged Bill Fekete, regional development manager for the large cargo operation.

“We want to work with the community and develop both an outbound export market and an inbound market, whether that’s import or domestic,” Fekete said after the informal gathering of a half-dozen people who met on a snowy day to discuss how to proceed.

Using BIA would save time and money because the product wouldn’t have to be trucked to Boston and New York, where there can be additional delays at the heavily trafficked airports. Reynolds said he has to have his lobsters in Boston eight hours before the flight.

European officials have expressed frustration at the difficult access to some airports and are looking for places that aren’t so congested, Hamm said.

To make it financially feasible for Polar Air Cargo, a minimum load of 30 to 50 tons per flight would be needed, Fekete said, and that could be a stumbling block.

Reynolds said he may be able to prepare several thousand pounds of lobster but nowhere near the amount Fekete suggested. Reynolds said he didn’t believe Maine’s seafood industry alone could meet the figure.

“Get a few more people involved and it might work,” Reynolds said.

That’s the idea, according to Hamm and others who spoke at the meeting.

Maine has other potential exports, whether from General Electric’s power generation plant in Bangor, L.L. Bean products or research mice from The Jackson Laboratory, Hamm said.

Carolina Quiroz-Boutaugh, an international trade specialist with the Maine International Trade Center, said Canadian firms that don’t want to ship through Boston might also be interested in regular cargo flights from BIA.

“We have all that market that could be sending those products to Bangor instead of Boston,” she said after the meeting.

To further assess the demand for a weekly cargo flight to Europe, airport officials have developed a questionnaire that is being sent to freight forwarders and international shippers.