Air Canada is eliminating its remaining flight from the Fredericton International Airport, effective January 23.
The daily flight to and from Montreal is the last remaining commercial flight in the Fredericton International Airport. The news means all commercial flights to and from the Fredericton airport will be gone as of January 23.
Krista Ross, CEO of the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce, says that she is hopeful Air Canada will resume service later in the spring.
“It is disappointing news, but understandable under the circumstances,” said Ross in an interview. “We are confident that when regulations are less stringent and health protocols allow that we will have Air Canada back.”
Fredericton’s loss of Air Canada service comes a month after the announcement of Saint John and Sydney’s elimination of their respective Air Canada flights.
“They are leaving flights in the system after April 12, so they will be re-evaluating and if they are able and if there’s a demand and if they are able to meet the health protocols then hopefully we will have flights again later in the Spring,” said Ross.
In an email to Huddle, Pascale Déry, Director of Media Relations for Quebec-Eastern Canada, noted Air Canada’s overall network capacity is currently down 80 percent from the last normal year in 2019.
“We continue to experience stifled demand due to COVID-19 and ongoing travel restrictions and quarantines requirements. As a result, we are suspending until further notice all passenger flights to Fredericton, beginning January 23. This decision was not taken lightly and we regret the impact on our customers and communities, but it is increasingly difficult to continue to operate in this challenging environment,” Déry wrote.
Liam Floyd is a reporter for Huddle, an Acadia Broadcasting content partner.