Airport, airline officials react to WestJet CEO's comments about one major N.B. airport
From an airline perspective, WestJet CEO Alexis von Honesbroech says having three major airports all within two hours of one another isn’t helping land more flights.
“Right now you are splitting the traffic across three different airports, and I understand why the cities want to have their own airport, but this also means that the demand is subcritical in all three of them to many destinations,” von Honesbroech told CTV News Atlantic lead anchor Todd Battis in a sit down interview on Wednesday during a visit to Atlantic Canada. “Consolidating them all into one would certainly improve the connectivity for New Brunswick. On the other hand I fully understand why this is not happening at this point in time, but in the long run maybe there is an opportunity.”
The discussion of the need for three major airports in the province (located in Saint John, Fredericton, and Moncton) is nothing new to New Brunswickers.
Some of the province’s airports offer no more than a handful of flights per day. In comparison, Halifax Stanfield International Airport (the region’s largest airport) is slated to see roughly 100 flights arriving and departing each day this week.
Former Air Canada COO Duncan Dee agrees with the WestJet CEO, and says slicing New Brunswick’s small market across multiple airports isn’t helping attract airlines.
“The only time of year that any of those airports make sense on their own is probably the two, maybe three months in the summer peak when virtually every flight that is operated in Canada on the domestic market is full,” Dee believes.
Dee also points out the nation’s larger airlines no longer fly the small turbo prop aircrafts New Brunswickers used to fly more regularly.
“It’s a recipe for disaster in terms of air services to the province,” he said.
The former COO also notes New Brunswick has put more of an effort into tourism in recent years, but says the province’s air service approach is counterproductive. The focus of airports has been on winter flights to sunny destinations, says Dee, which is great for locals, but not for getting tourist into New Brunswick.
While airlines support the idea of a central major hub, airport officials have a different take on the matter.
Nadia MacDonald, executive director of the Atlantic Canada Airports Association, says the airports in the province are doing a great job in boosting tourism and moving and serving passengers in New Brunswick.
“In 2023 the province moved over 1.1 million passengers,” says MacDonald. “Air service is essential to this region. We move cargo, goods, perishables, as well as passengers and cities around these airports have established businesses that have been there for years.”
MacDonald also highlighted the growth seen in New Brunswick and Atlantic Canada as a whole. She says the population growth is just another example as to why these airports are important to their communities, on top of the jobs they create for their region.
In 2022, New Brunswick released a five-year Air Sector Strategy, which determined closing any of the province’s existing airports (including the small airport in Bathurst) in favour of one centralized hub wasn’t the answer to any travel related issues.
“New Brunswick’s airports are operated as non-profits,” reminds MacDonald. “They are community-based corporations and they support the communities in which they serve. They do an excellent job of maintaining their high-quality facilities and servicing their communities. The economic benefit to the communities that they serve, there is a huge value in keeping them separate.”
MacDonald says the province is seeing roughly 84 per cent of the travel numbers seen before the pandemic.
For more New Brunswick news visit our dedicated provincial page.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Serial sexual offender linked to unsolved 1970s homicides of four Calgary girls, women
An investigation into unsolved historical homicides from the 1970s has linked the deaths of two girls and two young women in and around Calgary to a now-deceased serial offender.
Woman with liver failure rejected for a transplant after medical review highlights alcohol use
For nearly three months, Amanda Huska has been in an Ontario hospital, part of it on life support, because of severe liver failure. Her history of alcohol use is getting in the way of her only potential treatment: a liver transplant.
Video appears to show Sean 'Diddy' Combs beating singer Cassie in hotel hallway in 2016
Security video aired by CNN appears to show Sean 'Diddy' Combs physically assaulting singer Cassie in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016.
Scottie Scheffler isn't the first pro golfer to be arrested during a tournament
Scottie Scheffler's arrest hours before his second-round tee time at the PGA Championship in Louisville, Kentucky, will go down as one of the most shocking in professional golf history. It certainly wasn't the first, though.
B.C. man 'attacked suddenly' by adult grizzly near Alberta border: RCMP
A B.C. man is recovering from multiple injuries after he was "attacked suddenly" by an adult grizzly bear near Elkford Thursday afternoon.
Anglers reel in 3.5-metre-long tiger shark off coast of Florida: 'She found my bait'
A group of fishers said it took roughly 20 minutes to reel in this 3.5-metre-long tiger shark off the coast of Florida.
Australia's richest woman seeks removal of her portrait from exhibition
Art is subjective. And while many artists long to share their work with the world, there's no guarantee that the audience will understand it, or even like it.
Canadian convicted of attacking Nancy Pelosi's husband with a hammer sentenced to 30 years
The man convicted of attempting to kidnap then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and attacking her husband with a hammer was sentenced Friday to 30 years in prison.
Israeli military finds bodies of 3 Gaza hostages killed at music festival
Israeli military says its troops in Gaza found the bodies of three Israeli hostages taken by Hamas during its Oct. 7 attack, including German-Israeli Shani Louk.