The CEO of the Saint John Airport says any withdrawal of airline service for Atlantic Canada is not good news for the region.
Derrick Stanford responded to WestJet cuts announced this week impacting several airports, including Fredericton and Moncton.
“The scary part about the WestJet announcement is ‘who says it will stop there?’” Stanford said.
In a joint statement, the Saint John Airport and the Saint John Regional Chamber called for rapid testing and government assistance for the hard-hit aviation sector.
“If you look to other parts of the world, they are starting to move away from the 14-day isolation and look to a blend of some quarantining combined with access to rapid testing. For the aviation sector and I would argue for our economy, 14 days is not sustainable nor is it practical,” Stanford said.
Loss of Airlines and Airport will Decimate our Businesses
Full release: https://t.co/0lxol5mkiR pic.twitter.com/9mG8PjVm4N
— The Chamber SJ (@TheChamberSJ) October 14, 2020
Before the pandemic, Stanford said the Saint John Airport was looking at a significant year.
“We were going to launch Flair [Airlines] in June. The Saint John Airport was going to have the best year in its history in 2020. You look at the airfield modernization project we did. We have the most modern airfield of an airport our size in the country. We have centreline lighting. Only St. John’s and Halifax have that, Moncton doesn’t even have that,” Stanford said.
Stanford said they have requested financial assistance from Ottawa.
“I don’t want to build a Taj Mahal terminal or put in a cappuccino bar or add heated massaging theatre seating in the departure lounge. I have capital projects that are safety-related sort of end of life infrastructure. The airport has been out there since 1952,” Stanford said.
Stanford said it will be 2025 before the airport sees the same passenger volumes it had in 2019.
The airport currently has one daily flight to and from Montreal. At its peak, it had 17 flights operating daily.
Stanford said they used to see up to 850 passengers a day, where now they see about 55 in a day.
