The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the air travel industry to a screeching hault in Saskatchewan. “It could be until 2023 before air traffic returns to 2019 levels,” said CJ Dushinski, SKyxe Saskatoon Airport vice president of business development and service quality.
Saskatoon’s airport is basically empty. Foot traffic at SKYxe has dropped by roughly 90 per cent since this time last year. “We used to see 3,000 passengers a day and realistically we are averaging in the past few weeks, especially, it’s been around 40 passengers a day,” said Dushinski.
A total of 1.49 million passengers used the airport in 2019, the second busiest year on record. The drastic drop in business has had an impact on companies that rely on the airport for revenue.