I am incredibly saddened to hear the news that Air Canada will suspend all passenger operations to the J.A. Douglas McCurdy Airport until further notice, effective January 11th, 2021, due to the negative implications COVID-19 has had on the travel industry and air service in our region. This announcement means that as of January 11, 2021, there will be no commercial flights traveling in and our of our regional airport for the indefinite future.
As I know you will agree, accessibility via air to our island is absolutely integral to our sustainability and growth as a region. Furthermore, the airport is an employer of dozens of our community members. This suspension of all Air Canada flights will mean there will be many jobs lost in our community.
The Chamber has been very involved in the ongoing evolvement of this issue over the past number of months and we have been working with the Airport, the Mayor’s Office, the CB Partnership, community stakeholders and our local elected officials to express our concerns, advocate for support and present potential solutions to decision makers.
Before today’s announcement, we were hopeful that discussions between the airlines and the federal government would have resulted in some solutions by now. Although we now know the vaccine is coming, and we are hopeful that this will bring passenger confidence and increasing demand, we know this will take time.
The J.A Douglas McCurdy Airport will remain open, operating for medical emergency flights, cargo and private air service as best they can and tell us they will be ready to resume full operations as soon as commercial travel returns to our region.
In the meantime, we will not rest on this issue. The Chamber will continue to actively engage and collaborate on this file with our Airport, air carriers, community organizations and stakeholders. We are committed to advocating for the return of commercial air service to our regional airport as soon as it is possible.
Kathleen Yurchesyn
CEO, Cape Breton Regional Chamber of Commerce
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