The city has reached out to Air Canada for more information after the airline announced it’s indefinitely suspending service from North Bay to Toronto and closing it’s station here.

In a statement, Mayor Al McDonald says Air Canada is an important community partner and has made the city competitive with other jurisdictions domestically and around the globe.

He adds they understand COVID-19 has dramatically reduced demand for air travel and the need to suspend services, but the announcement comes as a surprise.

McDonald points to over 77-thousand passengers boarding and getting off planes at the Jack Garland Airport in 2019.

That was a 4.7 percent increase over 2018 and before this March, 2020 was projected to be another positive year.

Here is the full statement from Mayor Al McDonald:

“North Bay has been a domestic station for Air Canada since its first flight to our community in 1939. As the main service provider to our region, Air Canada is an important community partner and has made us competitive with other jurisdictions domestically and around the globe.
We recognize that the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically reduced demand for air travel and understand the need for airlines to suspend services. But today’s announcement does come as a surprise.
In 2019, more than 77,450 passengers enplaned/deplaned at the Jack Garland Airport, which is a 4.7 per cent increase over 2018, largely driven by Air Canada. Prior to March of this year, 2020 was projected to be another positive year.
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the aviation industry and will continue to do so until domestic, trans-border and international travel starts to flow again. We will work with the two senior levels of government and the business community to play a proactive role in sustaining air travel over the next couple of years in order to return to pre-COVID-19 levels of traffic.
We strongly believe that the airline industry will need to rely on the domestic markets, which provide solid numbers year after year, in order to recover and flourish moving forward
We have reached out to Air Canada and are seeking additional information regarding today’s announcement.”

 

(File photo by station staff)

Filed under: Air Canada, City of North Bay, Jack Garland Airport