February 16, 2000
(Works, Services and Transportation)

Availability of airline seats and the viability of airports in Newfoundland and Labrador

Rick Woodford, Minister of Works, Services and Transportation today announced that he is concerned with availability of airline seats and the future viability of airports in Atlantic Canada and particularly those in Newfoundland and Labrador. At a briefing with the Atlantic Canada Airports Association the minister was informed of the ongoing restructuring of the airline industry is reducing seats at a majority of airports in Atlantic Canada.

In Newfoundland, St. John�s has been reported as seeing a reduction of seats approaching 10,000 for the summer months, according to association representatives. The Department of Tourism, Culture and Recreation has been lobbying airlines to increase capacity into Newfoundland and Labrador destinations based on last years banner tourist year and anticipated growth in 2000. We can ill afford to loose valuable airline seats at a time when we are barely meeting the existing demand. Deer Lake has been reported as losing 50 scheduled flights per week over the past months with a potential revenue loss of $204,000 per year to the recently formed Airport Authority.

The same story is being reported from the other three Atlantic provinces with reduction in seats and reduced revenue for airports. The minister will discuss the issue of reduced seats with Air Canada and Air Nova officials when he meets with them on Friday in Corner Brook and will discuss the issue of reduced airport revenues with David Collennette, Minister of Transport Canada at his earliest opportunity.

The minister will lobby the federal minister to adopt the recommendations of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Transport, the Senate Committee on Transport and Communications, and the Commissioner of Competition. The federal minister must open up the Canadian skies to more competition from U.S. Carriers and negotiations for open skies agreements with more foreign countries. The minister will also raise the issue of protection for discount and regular carriers through prevention of predatory pricing with the federal minister.

Meida contact: Lynn Evans, Communications, (709) 729-3015.

2000 02 16                                                 10:20 a.m.