Atlantic airports brace for an uncertain summer as vaccination rates, COVID-19 restrictions, determine their fate

Maritime airports still struggling Airlines are being forced to rely on vaccination rates and changes in restrictions before they can resume. Jennifer Basa reports.

HALIFAX — With the summer months around the corner, many airports are still struggling to hold on as the COVID-19 pandemic halts many commercial flights in Atlantic Canada.

Strict measures are still in place across the Atlantic provinces and airports are forced to rely on vaccination rates and changes in restrictions before they can expect people to start flying more regularly.

Tiffany Chase, the director of public affairs and marketing at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport, says Nova Scotia’s restart plan, to be unveiled on Friday, will determine how many passengers can start flying out of Halifax again.

According to Chase, right now the airport sees a few hundred passengers each day.

“I think there’s a sense of optimism around the vaccination rates that we’re seeing both here in Nova Scotia, and across the country,” said Chase. “We do feel like people will be looking to travel once more people are comfortable and once that non-essential travel is permitted to resume.”

Meanwhile, the J.A. Douglas McCurdy Sydney Airport in Sydney, N.S. hasn’t had a commercial flight since January. Flights were supposed to resume in Sydney at the end of May, but an increase in COVID-19 cases in the province delayed the timeline.

“We know that the airlines are seeing advanced booking on their flights, so it’s a little frustrating when they have to keep moving the start date back,” says Mike MacKinnon, the airport’s CEO. “But we understand that there’s going to be a time when it's right to fly for everyone.”

Flights from Sydney to Halifax, a popular route for the Maritimes, are pushed back until July 1. Now, with the arrival of PAL Airlines, MacKinnon is more optimistic about the return to a sense of normalcy once the lockdown ends in Nova Scotia. But even with the possible return to air travel this summer, MacKinnon doesn’t expect the airport to recover any time soon.

“We’re looking at several years, maybe four to five years, until we get back to the levels of pre-pandemic," says MacKinnon.

Currently, both New Brunswick and Nova Scotia have 14-day isolation rules in place for non-essential travellers who are entering each province.

Without a timeline on when the isolation restrictions will end in New Brunswick, Bernard LeBlanc, the President and CEO of the Greater Moncton Roméo LeBlanc International Airport, believes they will continue to see less passenger travel throughout the summer.

"I think for travel to really restart we'll need to have clear guidelines in terms of who can travel for what and we'll need some type of easing of travel restrictions," says LeBlanc.