SYDNEY, N.S. — So far 100 jobs have been impacted by the lack of commercial traffic at the J.A. Douglas McCurdy Sydney Airport.
CEO Mike MacKinnon said prior to the COVID-19 pandemic there were just over 140 direct jobs at the airport.
“Now there are less than 40 people working here."
Employees with WestJet and Air Canada, Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, the airport authority, restaurant, car rental agencies and other businesses along with cleaners, ramp workers and fuelling agents have all been impacted.
Sixty per cent of the airport authority's regular workers are laid off until further notice. Staffing numbers vary with seasonal staff usually added for winter operations.
MacKinnon said pre-COVID staffing was anywhere from 18 to 23 employees. Currently, there are nine people working. The future of those jobs remains up in the air.
“It will depend on when, or even if, commercial air services come back and at what the level that activity will be,” he added.
As well, MacKinnon said the amount of flight activity determines how many employees are needed for most airport businesses.
On Dec. 8, Air Canada announced flights to Toronto and Halifax at the Sydney Airport would end indefinitely on Jan. 11, leaving the airport without any commercial air service. WestJet had announced in October it was indefinitely suspending operations in Atlantic Canada.
“Now there are less than 40 people working here." — J.A. Douglas McCurdy Sydney Airport CEO Mike MacKinnon
The last commercial flight out of the airport was an Air Canada flight Monday morning.
MacKinnon described Monday as, “a very difficult day here at our airport.
“My thoughts were how hard it is to see more airline and airport employees, people who are our friends and considered like family at a small airport like this, join the ever-increasing numbers of aviation industry staff here and across the country who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic.”
MacKinnon said no one expected this situation, adding neither the airport nor the airlines did anything wrong.
“We were experiencing growth year over year and looking forward to a strong year last year and more growth in 2021,” he said. “The concern now is that what took years to build up may take years to recover, if ever.”
A petition sponsored by airport stakeholders is accepting signatures online until Jan. 20, when it will be sent to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
"Showing support by signing the petition will help ensure our situation gets the attention required from the government," MacKinnon said.
The petition can be accessed at https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Sign/e-3057.
Sharon-Montgomery-Dupe is the enterprise reporter at the Cape Breton Post.
