Moncton Airport Expects Nearly $11-Million Drop In Revenue
MONCTON – While the Moncton airport had a good start to 2020, it ended the year with the same fate as other airports around the world with a huge drop in passengers and revenue.
The Greater Moncton Romeo LeBlanc International Airport ended the year with 173,404 passengers, a 74.3 percent decline from 674,406 passengers at the end of 2019. That’s also about 30 percent lower than the 239,320 passenger level of 1997, the year the airport authority took over operations from the federal government.
“With the current travel restrictions and quarantining requirements in place and with the situation continuously evolving, it is difficult for our business to ramp up to prior passenger activity or income levels,” said CEO Bernard LeBlanc said in a release.
“That being said, our airport continues to operate 24/7 with both runways fully operational to accommodate all commercial passenger, cargo, charter, MFC Training (Flight College), and general aviation aircraft activity.”
“Until the provincial and federal governments deem it is safe to travel again, it will be challenging to recover financially and be self-sustaining. This is why Canadian airports such as ours continue to seek to take advantage of announced federal government financial assistance to prevent long term impacts from both the operational and infrastructure perspectives. It is also key to understand that airports cannot fulfill their mandate without airlines, such that the viability of our partners is key to ensuring a strong Canadian aviation system,” he added.
The airport said that while restricting air travel is beneficial in mitigating the spread of Covid-19, it also caused passenger traffic to decreased by 98 percent to a low of 1,079 in May. It expects the 2020 revenue to show a drop of $10.7-million, representing a 53 percent fall.
The airport, while considered essential, had to cut 26 percent of its full-time staff, including management, non-unionized and unionized employees.
A key part for the airport’s recovery will rely on a rapid rollout of vaccines, combined with coordinated and consistent testing between provinces, the federal government and other countries to build traveler confidence and ensure safe travel, the airport authority said.
It doesn’t expect a significant recovery in 2021, expecting passenger traffic to only grow slightly to the 180,000 range, depending on the easing of travel restrictions and quarantine requirements.
The airport remains active for a number of flights in January, including daily Air Canada flights to Toronto and Montreal, and PAL Airlines flights to Newfoundland (Deer Lake, St. John’s and Wabush) a few times a week.