It is very quiet at the Regina Airport these days.
Regina Airport Authority President and CEO James Bogusz knew his facility would be hit hard when travel restrictions were announced by the federal government in mid-March, but the effects of that decision are now starting to show.
“It’s very quiet in here right now.” Bogusz said. “We have some flights coming in, but the amount of commercial traffic and passengers that we would normally get has basically disappeared.”
Bogusz says the Easter long weekend is a perfect example of that as there were just 69 departing passengers during that time frame this year compared to 2019 when 6,600 passengers left the city.
He adds the amount of flights coming in and out have also obviously dropped with one day seeing no commercial plane land or take-off from the facility.
As for what the future holds, Bogusz says it is hard to say because of what is happening in Canada and around the world.
“Going into the summer time, if we don’t see significant improvement in passenger traffic, we will be further into debt and right now. we have had to make some tough decisions. “Bogusz said. ” We have had to sadly layoff about a third of our 51 member staff and operating and capital spending has been cut by 40 percent,
He does add that the Regina Airport along with many others in Canada who are suffering the same fate as “YQR” are getting together to lobby for some federal aid.
