By Curtis Galbraith

Travel

Airport CEO glad restrictions are being lifted

Mar 4, 2022 | 6:00 AM

The CEO at the Grande Prairie Airport Commission says the lifting of most restrictions for air travel is “certainly good news.”

Brian Grant says people are now more able to make plans without worrying about COVID rules here or where they are going.

“Certainly, the provinces are making a good move in opening up, a lot of them together.”

“We are still caught as aviation, and in particular airports and air transport, under the requirements of the federal government, so things aren’t going to come off quite as quickly here as in the province, but certainly every little bit helps.”

Grant says passenger numbers were between 35,000 and 36,000 per month in 2019. By April 2020, that had dropped to between 800 and 1000. By fall, 2021, passenger numbers were back up to 17,000 a month and were at 16,000 in December last year.

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He adds there are still a couple things he would like to see done. One of those is the federal government loosening rules on testing before travelling.

“I think we all feel that if you are able to identify that you have been vaccinated that that should be good enough to travel without the testing, especially to go out of the country for PCR or antigen testing.”

“The federal government allowed antigen testing to go cross-border now to the US. It’s cheaper. It’s quicker for travellers.”

Grant is also watching to see how long it will take airlines to get enough seats available so prices remain competitive. He says prices are up right now, especially fares to US destinations.

He thinks Russia attacking Ukraine, and the price of oil going up as a result, will impact ticket prices if oil prices stay high for a long time.

“A lot of carriers usually will pre-buy fuel or have contracts for fuel well in advance. I’m not sure through COVID if the practices extend out as much as six months but it wasn’t unusual for prices to be locked in three months prior.”

Grant says the airport is still looking forward to a busy spring and is hoping passenger numbers are back to 70 to 80 per cent of normal by Easter.