Air travel recovery skips northern Ontario as regional airports face service cuts and rising costs

Canada's domestic air travel has rebounded to pre-pandemic levels in the country's biggest airports, but smaller communities and mid-sized cities, especially in northern Ontario, are seeing cuts in service, driving up ticket prices and frustrating travellers.

The number of regularly scheduled flights from Canada's biggest airlines is down significantly in Sudbury, North Bay, Timmins and Sault Ste. Marie.

In 2019, more than 4,800 flights departed from Sudbury's airport. The number dropped to less than half in 2023 with 2,380 scheduled departures.

Data from aviation analytics firm Cirium shows a similar tale in North Bay, where scheduled flights dropped from roughly1,900 down to 1,000 over four years.The trend is also visible in Timmins, where more than 4,000 flights departed in 2019, dropping to2,100 flights in 2023.

Sault Ste. Marie also saw a decrease in scheduled flights, with almost 4,300 flights departing in 2019, compared to just 2,669 flights last year.

Several reasons account for the drop in regional flights, according to Terry Bos, president and CEO of Sault Ste. Marie Airport Development Corporation.

LISTEN / Northern Ontario's regional airports struggling to recover after pandemic:

Morning North8:50Northern Ontario's regional airports still struggling to recover after pandemic

Canada's biggest airports have long since returned to pre-pandemic air passenger traffic levels, but regional airports are still struggling to recover. The CBC's Jonathan Pinto spoke to the president and CEO of Sault Ste. Marie Airport Development Corporation Terry Bos.

During the pandemic, airlines streamlined their fleets by replacing older planes with newer, larger ones. These more efficient aircraft allowed airlines to run fewer flights overlonger distances. The moveincreasedprofit margins and reduced fuel costs, as fewer takeoffs meant less fuel consumption.

Then, there's the shortage of pilots, particularly for regional flights. Combined with a reduction in pilot training courses, itcould meananother year or two before service levels increase for regional flights.

"It's tough, I'm not going to lie. Less flights is a lot less revenue coming in," said Bos in an interview with CBC's Morning North.

"We made it through the pandemic, we're holding in there now. But certainly, the airport isn't designed to operate on 160,000 passengers, it's more designed to operate in the 200,000 passenger range," Bos said.

The Sault Ste. Marie Airport has been pushing for more funding from Transport Canada's Airports Capital Assistance Program (ACAP), according to Bos.

It funds upgrades for small airports, but its $38-million limit has remained unchanged since 2000. Airports are calling for $95 million annually.

He says the federal government has to explore how it can better service the smaller markets, such as reducing costs from traveller security charges or from NAV Canada service fees.

"We haven't heard anything promising in regards to upcoming increases in ACAP funding. We haven't heard anything promising in regards to fees being reduced," he said.

Different story in the U.S.

It's a completely different picture just across the border from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. where business is booming at the Chippewa County International Airport,just south of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.That's largely thanks to a federal subsidy from Washington that allows small communities to maintain regular service.

SkyWestis the airline servingChippewa County International Airport, and its2024 subsidy is sitting at $7 million dollars.

If airlines take the subsidies, they must commit to preserving service levels. That's why even during the pandemic, air carriers were still flying mostly-empty planes, explains Tami Beseau, manager of the Chippewa County International Airport.

"It's a difference in recovery from the Canadian side. When the pandemic was over, we were pent up and ready to go," said Beseau.

LISTEN / Airport in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan area enjoys federal funding support:

Morning North9:50Canada's small airports, unlike America's, are struggling to recover from the pandemic

Tami Beseau of the Chippewa County International Airport joined us to discuss stark contrasts between Canadian and American small airports, namely how a US federal program deems air service to small regional airports "essential."

The airport offersregularly scheduled round-trip flights to Detroit, Mich., and Minneapolis, Mn,on a 70-passenger aircraft, seven days a week. For the summer, flights to and from Chicago have also been added.

Now, Beseau says, numbers have exceeded pre-pandemic levels.

"We should go over 50,000 total passengers, which would be the best year we've ever had," she said.