“We are cautiously optimistic,” YXS President says better days ahead for air travellers

With airlines adding flights for the summer, PG Airport Authority President Gord Duke is preparing for increased passenger traffic.

Carriers like Central Mountain Air will increase air service by 78 flights per week starting at the end of June while Flair Airlines is also slated to come back next month.

In addition, WestJet will also be rolling out its Prince George to Abbotsford service.

Duke recently spoke with MyPGNow.com.

“We are cautiously optimistic as our role as an airport is to be ready and we are doing that every day.”

“I think we are going to see some gradual growth as more vaccines get into arms. Initially, I think it’s going to be a lot of inter-provincial and domestic travel as we begin to get a handle on the pandemic.”

Duke mentioned the first quarter of 2021 has been tough-sledding for YXS due to the federal and provincial restrictions on travel during the pandemic’s third wave.

“We are probably down about 72% compared to where we would have been last year. January, February, and the first half of March were what we would call normal. This year, we are significantly below that.”

South of the border, the industry is making a comeback of sorts.

According to the Transportation Security Administration, Americans broke their own record of pandemic-related air travel over the Mothers Day weekend with 1.7 million people screened at checkpoints – that’s the highest number since March of 2020.

The spike in numbers has left Duke a little envious but isn’t sweating it too much.

“A lot of people (in America) wanted to fly and see their moms for the first time in a year. What goes through our minds is a little bit of jealousy as they are returning to what you would consider normal operations. However, I think Canada has done a pretty good job at handling this.”

“(The recovery in Canada) is not going to be quick and expensive for us as airports. As an essential service, there are a lot of fixed costs in keeping an airport fully operational, especially in the winter but we are optimistic about the industry and what will be a normal flight load.”

While the topic of vaccine passports in Canada remains a federal issue, given the uptake of them in Europe, Duke believes it’s a matter of if and not when they are implemented here.

“I know in Europe there is a strong movement towards that sort of arrangement and you can see that is globally where that sort of travel passport will be part of your regular passport almost.”