Air Service Takes Off-Surprised?

Some time ago, Air Transat announced its intention to provide air service to Brandon. Flights between Fort McMurray, Alberta and Mexico, and it was intended to be a trial run over the winter months. The local business community was happy. They have been lobbying to bring air service to Brandon for some time, and I've heard many people talk about how great air service would be so that people wouldn't have to drive in and out of Winnipeg to fly.

Things didn't turn out as they sould have. Recently, Air Transat announced that they intend to cancel that service because of low numbers. This doesn't surprise me, but local opinions about air service in Brandon have me baffled. It seems odd for so many people to want air service, yet not enough use it to make it viable. But there are other things to consider as well. Brandon isn't a large community, and bringing air service to Brandon won't encourage more flights in and out of Brandon. Aside from the airlines not making more money by coming here, coming here would also drive their expenses up, as they'd have to pay airport landing fees at 2 airports instead of one. "Oh, but it's inconvenient to have to drive 2 hours to the Winnipeg airport," people say. Many large cities, however, take a long time to drive across anyways. When it comes down to it, airlines are businesses, and they are out to make money, and it's quite evident that they wouldn't make money by flying into Brandon. After all this, I still have a hard time understanding why some people keep lobbying for air service in Brandon, when it clearly is not viable.