Prince George Airport Authority President (PGAA) and CEO, Gord Duke says his first year in the role was one for the books.
At the beginning of the pandemic, Duke assumed that COVID-19 would only hit the supply chain and impact the transportation of items from Asia.
“We went out and secured a year’s worth of elements like de-icing fluid and things that we use to keep the airport safe and operational,” Duke said.
Once the virus started to spread into North America, the PGAA expected to just have a rough first quarter.
“Our initial thoughts were we will be back up and running by the end of the year, but what we’re looking at here is a 3-5 year recovery to get back to 2019 levels,” he explained.
He says that in times where the airline industry was hardest hit such as the 2008 recession and 9/11, the industry still managed to rebound relatively quickly.
In April and May of this year, YXS saw a 95% decrease in passenger volume, followed by a modest recovery in June, July and August.
“We’ve now plateaued at around 71-72% decrease from the year before,” Duke added.
For reference, on an average month in 2018/2019, YXS would see around 41,000 passengers but now they’re only seeing around 11,000-10,000 passengers a month.
Duke noted that 2020 consisted of a lot of meetings with staff and stakeholders to make sure changes were being made to adhere to the evolving provincial health orders.
Currently, YXS is under review by NavCanada to determine whether or not the NavCanada Control Tower is still necessary at the airport.
Prince George City Council members have since written a letter to NavCanada in support of keeping the tower.
However, if Nav Canada decides to scale down service to YXS, the control tower would become a flight service station.
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