Northeastern Ontario airports ask for more pandemic supports

Northeastern Ontario's four largest airports want pandemic support programs to be extended in the next federal budget.

In a joint letter the CEOs andmanagers of the airports in Greater Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie,North Bayand Timmins said they haven't recovered from the pandemic as quickly as larger international airports.

An extension of the Regional Air Transportation Initiativewould see each airport get $1 million per year over the next four years.

"The recovery from this pandemic for the airline industry is going to be at least three to five years," said Terry Bos, president and CEO of the Sault Ste. Marie Airport.

"If we start jacking up our fees to the airlines, it's going to be even more difficult for the airlines. So we need to be able to keep our fees where they are so the entire ecosystem can recover."

Bos said that while majorairports are returning to pre-pandemic passenger levels, the Sault Ste. Marie Airport was still down 50 per cent in 2022.

He said the summer travel season saw a jump in passenger numbersreaching 80 per cent of pre-pandemic levels but business travel hasn't kept up.

"Once the leisure season ended and people went back to school we were well under 70 per cent again," Bos said.

"If we keep the costs where they used to be and then just wait for all the customers to come back and not be scared off by pricing. That's really the hope out of the whole thing."

He added changes to work culture, including the growth of video meetings with programs like Zoom, have meant business travel might never return to pre-pandemic levels.

"We do feel that for big deals, and mainly for conferences and trade shows and stuff like that where you need to get together with your peers, that will hopefully come back sooner," Bos said.

Greater Sudbury Airport CEO Giovanna Verrilli said it could take until 2025 or 2026 for that airport to fully recover from the pandemic.

"We've had a very slow recovery in 2022," she said.

"Our numbers had yet to reach 50 per cent of pre pandemic levels and we are very, very far behind the hub airports."

Verrilli said she is focusedon getting the airlines to fly into Sudbury and northern Ontario more often. All four airports say they are only getting about half the daily flights they did in 2019.

In their joint letter the four airport CEOs and managers said that together, they employ at least 1,300 people and contribute $300 million in annual gross domestic product from the air transportation sector.

Stability of regional airports 'very important'

In a statement to CBC News,Sault Ste. Marie's LiberalMP Terry Sheehan said the stability of northeastern Ontario's regional airports is "very important" to him.

"Our government will keep working with local airports to ensure they can continue servicing communities like Sault Ste. Marie," the statement said.