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Air Canada will be suspending flights between Charlottetown and Halifax starting Monday
CBC News · Posted: Apr 03, 2020
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More suspensions to flights travelling to and from Prince Edward Island were announced Friday as the airline industry across Canada deals with the effects of COVID-19.
Air Canada announced the service between Charlottetown and Halifax will be suspended from April 6 until June 1, 2020.
Flight service between Toronto and Charlottetown has been suspended until June 1 as well.
A spokesperson with Air Canada told CBC News the flights have been reduced because of “low demand.”
Starting on Monday, Air Canada will only operate one daily flight between Charlottetown and Montreal.
WestJet continues to operate a direct flight between Charlottetown and Toronto three days a week.
Passenger travel down 90 per cent
Doug Newson, CEO of the Charlottetown Airport Authority, said the airport is very quiet, with passenger travel down by about 90 per cent.
“A little over a month ago we were looking at terminal expansions and challenges this summer in terms of how we were going to get people through the airport … we were looking at a banner year for the Charlottetown Airport Authority and the tourism industry,” he said.
“It feels like overnight that has done a 180. It’s certainly stressful times, but we’re not alone in this obviously.”
He said the pandemic will take a financial toll on the airport, ranging in the millions of dollars. Newson said last April there was an average of up to 750 passengers coming through the terminal a day.
“Over the past week, we’ve had about 75,” he said.
The federal government has announced help so far by waiving rent for airports that pay Transport Canada.
But Newson said those payments are based on revenue and may mean only about $5,000 in savings for the Charlottetown airport.
The airport plans to defer capital projects and will look at other ways to cut costs.
Newson said it is hard to predict the future in these unprecedented times but understands people, businesses and industries are impacted all over.
He said some of the smaller airports have already seen cancellations of all flights. If the pandemic continues for too long, Newson said, that could happen in Charlottetown as well.
With files from Wayne Thibodeau