The CEO of the Saint John Airport is reflecting on what he describes as an “interesting year” at the airport.
Sandy Ross said things are starting to turn around at the airport, which saw its passenger numbers drop below 50,000 last year.
In a year-end interview, Ross said things looked considerably different now than they did at the start of the year.
“If we throw our minds back to January 2022, we were only intermittently open, COVID was still dominating the airline industry, Air Canada had limited service, and we were still struggling with opening protocol,” said Ross.
“Working through all of that and getting people back and comfortable coming through the airport and then dealing with that surge of demand that we saw in the summer, still with all of the COVID protocols in place, I’ll say that was the highlight.”
While the surge in demand led to “tense days” in other larger airports, Ross said they did not see the same thing in Saint John.
Everyone coming through the airport was understanding, he said, despite all of the measures that were in place.
“I think the year has been one of positive steps and incremental steps in getting back to regular business,” said Ross
Returning to pre-pandemic passenger volumes
Ross said daily traffic at the airport is trending at 40 to 50 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.
However, he said there is no shortage of people wanting to travel and use the Saint John Airport.
“We know there are lots of people in the Saint John Airport that would love to be getting out on Air Canada, they’d love to be getting out on other carriers,” said Ross.
“But right now, there’s a scarcity of flights and seats as a function of Air Canada and other carriers having a shortage of crews and resources in their hubs — Toronto, Montreal and such. That’s really what’s restricting our growth right now.”
This summer, Air Canada slashed an average of 77 round trips, or 154 flights, per day as it grappled with a series of challenges.
YSJ lost two of its four daily round trips as part of the cuts, leaving it with one daily round trip to Toronto and one to Montreal.
Air Canada reinstated the Saint John-to-Toronto daily round trip in late October and it plans to add a third daily rotation between the two cities next summer.
Ross said he is hopeful the second daily round trip to Montreal will also return in the summer.
As for when YSJ will see pre-pandemic passenger volumes return, Ross said he hopes that will happen by 2025.
