Advertisement

Air Canada cancels service to Fredericton International Airport

Click to play video: 'New COVID-19 test rules for travellers take effect late Wednesday'
New COVID-19 test rules for travellers take effect late Wednesday
WATCH: As of 11:59 EST on Jan. 6, Ottawa is mandating that all air travellers arriving into Canada must prove they don't have COVID-19 by taking a test. But as Abigail Bimman reports, that's left Canadians scrambling, and the travel industry pushing back – Jan 6, 2021

Air Canada is leaving yet another airport in the Maritimes as it’s preparing to cut all flights to Fredericton.

The airline told Global News in an email the decision was made because of low demand for flights, travel restrictions and quarantine requirements brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

“Our overall network capacity is currently down about 80 per cent from the last normal year in 2019,” said spokesperson Pascale Déry.

A part of the cancellations will also be daily flights to Montreal, now cut until further notice.

“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 said.

Story continues below advertisement

The suspension of services begins in less than two weeks, on Jan. 23.

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

Get daily National news

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Air Canada announced last month that it would cancel all flights to and from Sydney, N.S., and Saint John, N.B., and reduce service to Deer Lake, N.L., Charlottetown and Halifax during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last commercial flights from Sydney and Saint John departed on Monday.

Click to play video: 'WestJet announces 1,000 job cuts as aviation industry calls on feds to do more'
WestJet announces 1,000 job cuts as aviation industry calls on feds to do more

For those affected by the travel cuts, they say the worst thing about the situation for the Saint John Airport and the J.A. Douglas McCurdy Sydney Airport is that no one knows if or when flights will be coming back.

Krista Ross with the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce told Global News she is disappointed.

However, she said she is optimistic service will be resumed in April, or when the region is further along in its rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Story continues below advertisement

Déry said in the email Air Canada will continue to adjust its route network, “in response to the trajectory of the pandemic and travel restrictions.”

Sponsored content

AdChoices