Year In Review: Monette Pasher On How Covid Forever Changed Atlantic Canada’s Airline Industry
To cap off 2021, Huddle sat down with some of the key figures in Atlantic Canada’s business community – folks representing everyone from tourism operators to energy producers to housing advocates.
We asked each to reflect on the challenges, successes, and surprises that most impacted their industries, and the lives of Atlantic Canadians, this year.
In the first of several conversations we will bring you over the next week, Huddle associate editor Trevor Nichols sat down with Monette Pasher, the executive director of the Atlantic Canada Airports Association.
Her answers have been edited for length and clarity.
Q – What is the most significant challenge your industry faced in 2021. What impact did it have?
We started the first six months of the year with half of our airports having no air service at all. So that was certainly the most significant challenge. And at the lowest point, we were down to nine routes connecting our region to the rest of the country.
So it was a massive impact on our region’s airports, which really has a big impact on jobs and essential travelers moving for work and health care. Even the seamless movement of goods like bringing in vaccines, all of that had to happen on military aircraft and with special cargo flights. So it was really quite a large impact.
Our airports looked like ghost towns. All the lights were shut off and it was just a really eerie feeling. We’re in the business of connecting people and there were very few people to connect and very few workers coming in.
Q – What is the coolest thing that happened in your industry in 2021?
I think it was really interesting to see what happened when we started to slowly get back to business in spring and the summer. I mean, we were essentially starting from scratch in many of our markets.
One of the interesting things were new routes emerged that we didn’t have in the past because we were connecting people differently—which was exciting to see in the middle of a pandemic.
The other big one has been the new, ultra-low-cost carriers coming into our market. They really view this reset as an opportunity and they’re the only ones really out there buying more aircraft.
So, in some ways, I guess the playing field is reset and our industry’s changed its model. Until the business sector really starts flying in a big way I think we’re gonna see a lot less hub-and-spoke and a lot more point-to-point.
Q – How do you think your industry most impacted the lives of Atlantic Canadians in 2021?
I would say it was getting those first flights back. Reconnecting loved ones is really something to see. People have been apart for so long and those first moments of landing on the ground with masks on and hugging people, it was pretty magical.
And that’s what our industry does, right? We connect people. When people are disconnected, and they can’t travel for work and major life events, it really shines a light on the importance of aviation in today’s global world.
I think we saw firsthand how crucial it is and why it’s important to maintain our airports and our runway. Because people need that service.
Even more than commercial air service, we saw through the pandemic how essential we are as a sector and how crucial aviation is. We need to maintain those runways because the medevacs need to go from Newfoundland to St. John’s every day. These life flights and commercial air access and getting vaccines—the list goes on—they all use our runways and, and they’re needed.
I think, for our sector, it was a source of pride. While it was expensive to stay open, we had to stay open – this was an essential service, and it was needed in our communities.
Q – How will Atlantic Canada’s airline industry be different once the pandemic is finally over?
I think it’s going to take a long time to get back and I think we’ll see the legacy carriers adjust capacity based on passenger levels. And we’ll have smaller aircrafts likely until we get the tourists back. But business travelers are probably not going to be flying as much in the short term.
But I think one of the interesting things that that has come from the pandemic in our region is we could have a new bigger regional carrier in PAL Airlines.
I think the other thing that we look at is that it’s an interesting time to see the new entrants of the ultra-low-cost carrier market. We’ve seen Flair come, and we’ve seen Swoop come, and then there are new carriers talking about starting as well.
It’s going to be interesting to see how the market responds to this but it could be great for our tourism industry.
Q – What else was important in the airline industry this year?
Our airports wouldn’t have been able to get through the pandemic without the support that we’ve seen from the federal government.
That’s support for infrastructure, wage subsidies, regional air infrastructure funding. They put out so many programs to help recover losses and fund essential infrastructure that is really so necessary when our airports are not-for-profit and we face such tremendous net losses.
I feel like it’s been such an important part of Covid recovery and to get to this starting line as we start to rebuild routes again. Without having that footing, we really would not be in a good place.
Other feature interviews in this series:
- Kathryn Lockhart On A New Crop Of Founders Shaking Up Atlantic Canada’s Startup Ecosystem
- Fredericton Chamber CEO Krista Ross On Supporting Businesses Through Tough Times
- Mayor Mike Savage On Managing Growth In Halifax