91.9 The Bend file photo from May 2019
Things are literally looking up at the Greater Moncton Roméo LeBlanc International Airport (YQM) after the pandemic brought air travel to a screeching halt almost 18 months ago.
With few flights and even fewer passengers, it has been extremely tough for airports to keep operating but YQM has been able to access federal programs such as $4.8 million recently announced through ACOA (Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency).
CEO Bernard LeBlanc says the airport has taken advantage of wage subsidies for employees (Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy) and Ottawa has waived the rent until the end of 2023 which will save over half a million dollars per year.
LeBlanc says Ottawa also covered half the cost of resurfacing a runway at $3.9 million and the full $1 million cost of an airport rescue and firefighting vehicle.
“Our normal revenue base is about $20 million per year but so much of that depends on passengers. So our challenge is, although traffic is starting to improve, we’re still very low in passenger counts which means our revenue is very low.”
Passenger numbers are slowly growing with the July count at 16,662 – only 27 percent of last July’s traffic – but still more than double the June traffic of 7,944 passengers.
Over the one year period from June 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021, YQM saw just over 75,000 passengers – a far cry from the 2019 annual total of 674,406.
During 2020, YQM reported a loss of $6.5 million and depleted its cash reserves by $3.8 million.
With New Brunswick reopening under the Green phase of pandemic recovery on July 31, there are some promising signs in air travel.
LeBlanc says flights have been increasing this summer with Newfoundland-based PAL Airlines now offering five destinations.
He adds WestJet has returned, Air Canada has been ramping up the frequency of its service and Porter Airlines plans to resume flying in mid-September.
Looking ahead to February 2022, Sunwing and Air Transat will once again be offering direct flights to sunshine destinations in the Caribbean and Mexico.
