Wanted: 40 people for a round trip charter flight to Juneau.

While a proposed December flight between the Alaska and Yukon capital didn't happen, municipal officials in both communities are continuing to work on the possibility for a charter flight for the last weekend in February.

In separate interviews this morning, both Mayor Bruce Botelho of Juneau and Mayor Bev Buckway of Whitehorse said they are continuing to see if there is enough interest in each of their communities for a flight to happen in February.

Last October, the assembly in Juneau passed a resolution to guarantee the seats on three 40-seat Air North charter flights over the winter, provided Whitehorse did the same.

That meant if there were any unsold seats on the flight, the communities would pay the difference.

The move came from the Alaska city's interest in creating regular air service between the two communities going again.

"The city (Whitehorse) wasn't prepared to off-set the costs,” Buckway said this morning, noting that there didn't seem to be much interest on the Whitehorse side for the flight.

Few calls or e-mails over the new flights trickled in to Whitehorse city officials after the business community was informed of the initiative by the city and the public was informed through the media.

"I think the interest on the Juneau side has been fairly high,” Botelho said.

Eventually, Whitehorse had to "bite the bullet” and turn it down, at least for December, which seemed to disappoint many Juneau residents who ended up calling their city officials to find out what had happened to the plans.

"Folks were ready to travel,” Botelho said, adding many from his community have sentimental ties to Whitehorse or just enjoy what the Yukon capital has to offer

"Whitehorse is a great small city.”

He went on to suggest one of the reasons interest may not have been high in the Yukon was that many were waiting to see if the flight would actually happen before they made travel plans.

At least one Yukon group has since expressed an interest in being part of the flights to Juneau.

Buckway noted the city has already heard from Tennis Yukon officials who said they were interested in it and wondering why they heard little about the December flight last year.

Sports and recreation could be the answer to filling the flights, at least if Juneau's experience is any indication.

Botelho said his community didn't issue any major public call to gauge interest on the flights, but rather started speaking with the sports and recreation community.

Many officials with groups like tennis, skiing and even darts have contacts through the same type of organizations in Whitehorse and just within those groups it was easy to generate interest, he said.

Though the December flights didn't take off, Botelho and Buckway believe they are a possibility for February, provided the interest is there.

"I think it could be a great weekend in Juneau,” Buckway said, adding she's hopeful that if there are groups or individuals interested in the flight, they will contact the city.

For Yukoners wanting to travel, that could mean making a budget choice between Air North's charter down to Vancouver for Yukon Day at the Olympics on Feb. 20 or travelling to Juneau on that charter flight.

Botelho is confident the interest will be there for the Juneau flight as well. As he pointed out, each trip would have its own appeal to different travellers, and he suspects the Juneau flight would likely be a little cheaper.

Talks are expected to continue between the two cities before a final decision on the February flights is made. If a flight after that goes ahead, it would likely happen in April.