News provided by cbc.ca
Airline pledges to maintain McMurray-to-Toronto route –
but only if people use it
David Thurton · CBC · Posted: Jan 20, 2019 6:00 AM MT
A stock image shows a Boeing 737 in Air Canada livery departing Los Angeles International Airport. An Air Canada flight expected to arrive in Hawaii from Vancouver was re-routed back to YVR for maintenance reasons on Monday. (Philip Pilosian/Shutterstock)
Despite the lack of pipeline access, low oil prices and a declining population, Air Canada says it’s confident in Fort McMurray’s economy.
WestJet recently cut its sole daily direct flight from the oilsands capital to Toronto — a crucial air bridge for passengers heading to Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada. However, Air Canada said it’s committed to maintaining this route over the long term.
The airline’s director of government relations for the western region, Serge Corbeil, made the pledge at a sold-out business luncheon on Thursday.
“We are confident that the worst is behind, in terms of the economy,” Corbeil said after speaking to municipal politicians and business leaders at the Fort McMurray Chamber of Commerce luncheon. “We have a sense of optimism.”
Good news for a change
Fort McMurray has endured a spate of bad news.
In August 2018, the community was caught off-guard when a federal court halted construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline, a national infrastructure project to take the region’s bitumen to new overseas markets.
Air Canada’s director of government relations for the western region, Serge Corbeil, spoke to CBC in Fort McMurray on Jan. 17, 2018. (David Thurton/ CBC)
Before the end of 2018, some of the region’s producers smaller and medium-size oil producers suffered from deep discounts when it came to selling Alberta’s oil because of excess supply.
- Fort McMurray population down nearly 11 per cent since wildfire, census shows
- WestJet’s Fort McMurray to Toronto route cancellation ‘disappointing’
Finally, a January release of municipal census results showed Fort McMurray’s population had contracted by about 11 per cent since 2015. The population count was the first one since the 2016 wildfire.
Use it or lose it: Air Canada
Roelof-Jan (R.J.) Steenstra, CEO of the Fort McMurray Airport Authority, said Air Canada’s visit offered a vote of confidence for the region.
“Although there continue to be challenges,” Steenstra said, “they definitely feel that there is good progress to be made.”
CBC News EdmontonAir Canada confident in Fort McMurray’s economy WATCH00:00 01:19Despite the lack of pipeline access, low oil prices and a declining population, Air Canada says it’s confident in Fort McMurray’s economy. 1:19
Corbeil, however, did warn that if passengers opt to fly out of southern Alberta airports like Edmonton and Calgary instead of using the local airport, it Air Canada will need to re-evaluate the Toronto route.
“The passenger count has to be there,” Corbeil said. “The community has to use it.”
When the question was raised about the flight costs, Corbeil said there waas nothing the airline could do anything to make flights from Fort McMurray cheaper when asked by an luncheon attendee.