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Air Canada suspends service to Kingston amid pandemic crisis

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KINGSTON — The only major airline flying into the city’s airport is suspending flights as it fights to survive the global COVID-19 pandemic.

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Air Canada announced Tuesday that it was cutting 30 regional flights across the country, including service between Kingston and Toronto, and is closing eight stations at regional airports, including Kingston’s Norman Rogers Airport.

“It’s unfortunate but not surprising. Nobody is flying. The airline industry has been so hard hit,” Mayor Bryan Paterson said. “At the same time, we know at the other side of this travel will return.”

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Paterson said earlier this year that the city was in advanced discussions with another airline about expanding service to Kingston.

An Air Canada plane sits on the tarmac at the Norman Rogers Airport in 2015. (Elliot Ferguson/The Whig-Standard)
An Air Canada plane sits on the tarmac at the Norman Rogers Airport in 2015. (Elliot Ferguson/The Whig-Standard) Photo by Elliot Ferguson /Elliot Ferguson/Kingston Whig-St

“When the time is right, we will welcome Air Canada back,” Aron Winterstein, manager of Kingston’s Norman Rogers Airport, said in a statement issued Tuesday afternoon. “Acting on the best advice of our public health officials, we are travelling less and staying close to home. These are important steps we need to take during this pandemic. However, we know airlines are feeling these impacts on their bottom line.

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“This context we find ourselves in will end. Kingston will once again become a destination for travellers. We know this, and we also know there is a local appetite for nearby and convenient flights, which we can provide.”

Air Canada’s announcement came a week shy of the one-year anniversary of the unveiling of the newly renovated Norman Rogers Airport.

The city spent $16 million and 14 months to renovate and expand the airport terminal and add about 325 feet to one of the runways.

Paterson downplayed the financial impact of Air Canada’s move and said the airport expansion had been budgeted for, the work is complete and the airport is available when domestic air travel returns, which some experts have said could take up to three years.

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The expansion was done with a build-it-and-they-will-come strategy meant to lure a second major airline to the facility or expand Air Canada’s existing service.

The pandemic derailed those plans, and the air travel industry as a whole, almost overnight in March.

Passengers disembark an Air Canada Jazz flight from Toronto at Norman Rogers Airport. (Ian MacAlpine/The Whig-Standard)
Passengers disembark an Air Canada Jazz flight from Toronto at Norman Rogers Airport. (Ian MacAlpine/The Whig-Standard) SunMedia

The suspension of air travel grounded the Dash-8 and other aircraft flying in and out of Kingston, although the airport still sees private flights, military flights, medical transfer flights from Moosonee and UPS freight flights on a daily basis.

To the city, the loss of user fees is expected to top $500,000 by the end of August.

“Loss of revenues for passenger and landing fees and other revenues is projected to be approximately $130,000 per month,” chief administrative officer Lanie Hurdle wrote in a report in May about the financial impacts of the pandemic.

Air Canada reported a net loss of $1.05 billion in the first quarter of this year.

To cut costs, it has slashed its workforce by more than half, about 20,000 employees, through layoffs, severances, early retirements and leaves.

The airline has also reduced its capacity by about 85 per cent in the second quarter from a year ago and expects a 75 per cent capacity reduction in the third quarter. It has permanently removed 79 aircraft from Air Canada and Rouge fleets.

With files from Postmedia Network

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