Bathurst airport the latest in N.B. to get federal money to offset pandemic losses

The company that runs the Bathurst Regional Airport will get $1.5 million in federal funding to help soften the financial blow dealt by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Northern New Brunswick Airport Authority will receive the money as part of Ottawa's regional air transportation initiative, which launched in March as a way to support access to air transportation, says a news release Tuesday from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.

The release saidthe non-repayable contribution will allowthe airport authority to maintain airport operations in Bathurst "and help mitigate economic hardships resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic."

In response to pandemic travel restrictions, Air Canada, the only commercial airline operating at the Bathurst Regional Airport, suspended its services there inJune 2020 and resumed flightsjust this past June.

"The whole of the Acadian Peninsula relies on the Bathurst Regional Airport and, through the support of the federal government, we have been able to ensure critical connections for businesses, medical services and families to the rest of our country," Jamie DeGrace, CEO of the Northern New Brunswick Airport Authority, said in the news release.

The funding announcement comes after the federal government said it would give $3.8 million each to the airport authorities responsible for the Fredericton International Airport and the Saint John Airport, also to help offset revenue losses caused by the pandemic.

Flights in and out of those airports were also suspended because of the pandemic, but have started to returnas provinces and the federal government loosen travel restrictions.