Will Losing Commercial Flights Kill Investment in Cape Breton?

SYDNEY — Last week, Air Canada officially stopped offering its five-day-a-week route between Sydney and Toronto, leaving the J.A Douglas McCurdy Sydney Airport without a single commercial flight.
 
When Air Canada first announced the cancellation in December, airport CEO Mike MacKinnon called the move a “massive, catastrophic blow to Cape Breton Island.”
 
Tourism is an integral part of Cape Breton’s economy and many worried the industry would deteriorate without direct air access to the island. But while a short-term dearth of tourists is painful, many in the business community are even more concerned about the potential long-term impacts of losing air service.
 
“This is catastrophic for our region, for our economy, for our community, for our tourism and cultural sectors. We need to be an accessible island … in order to sustain ourselves currently, but also to have any chance of growth,” explains Kathleen Yurchesyn, the CEO of the Cape Breton Regional Chamber of Commerce.
 
Lately, Cape Breton has experienced a kind of economic boom. In 2019, the island’s population grew for the first time in decades as unemployment fell and the overall labour force expanded. Investors are starting to wake up to the potential in Cape Breton, Yurchesyn says, and over the past few years have invested in several big-name projects.
 
“Right now we are seeing historical investment in our region, both publicly and privately—and there is a lot more to come. There are a number of massive economic opportunities that stand before us right now. But they are in large part built around our ability to [have people] arrive here by air,” she says.
 
But as MacKinnon (and many others in the airline industry) points out, with the flight cancellations in Sydney it will likely take years for air service to return to pre-Covid-19 levels. As airlines slowly start to rebuild, smaller markets like Sydney will likely get passed over for “bigger, healthier routes” and may not see service return for a considerable time.
 
“And when they do come back, what does that even look like? Are we going to get back what we used to have?  This is bigger than just losing our flights indefinitely, it’s the level of work it’s going to take to get that back,” Yurchesyn says.
 
Prior to the pandemic, flights left consistently between Sydney and Halifax, Toronto, and Montreal. Terry Smith, the CEO of the tourism marketing organization Destination Cape Breton, says he and others were even in talks with major airlines about how to increase flight offerings before the pandemic hit.
 
“We had such momentum in terms of getting more air access here,” he says. “My concern now is that it will take some to regain what we lost.”
 
If that’s the case, Yurchesyn says it will make the island “a whole lot less competitive and a whole lot less attractive to potential investors. Our airport is our lifeline. It’s our connection to the rest of the world.”
 
Growth Depends On Air Connectivity
 
Martin Kejval is the development director of Cape Smokey Holdings Ltd. He and his partners bought Cape Smokey in 2019 and plan to invest millions to transform the ski resort into a year-round tourism destination.
 
Kejval says the minds behind the Cape Smokey revitalization see enormous potential in Cape Breton as a tourist destination. In 2019, Kejval says, about 2,500 cars a day traveled the Cabot Trail. With more destinations like Cape Smokey, he thinks that number could balloon as visitors from farther afield catch on.
 
“Nova Scotia as a whole is a beautiful place: it looks like Hawaii and New Zealand had a love child, you know, gorgeous,” he says. “There’s no doubt about it, this is the most beautiful place in the world, period. People should be streaming in.”
 
“I honestly believe when Cape Smokey is completely finished there will be people coming every weekend from Toronto for three, four days or longer.”
 
But that plan depends on travelers from cities like Toronto and Montreal. Kejval worries it will be very tough to attract them without direct and consistent commercial air access.
 
“It would be a big blow to Cape Smokey and all the development here if that airport doesn’t open back up,” he says.
 
Promised Government Help Hasn’t Materialized
 
MacKinnon told Huddle in December he’s “holding onto a glimmer a hope” that the Sydney airport will get back up and running again after winter hibernation, but said that “will take a coordinated approach with help from our province to implement testing and financial support from the federal government for our airline partners.”
 
He also called out the federal government for not acting fast enough to support the airline industry in Canada. In November, the federal government said it was planning help for the industry. Later, as part of an economic update, the feds again promised help for regional airports.
 
However, it still isn’t clear what that help will look like or when it will arrive.
 
“It’s time for the government to put on your big boy pants and let’s get out of the politics of these issues and sit down and figure out the way we solve the problems that are right now killing an industry,” MacKinnon said. “Our industry’s in trouble, serious trouble, and I’m not sure that everyone really understands that.”


Trevor Nicols
https://huddle.today/will-losing-commercial-flights-kill-investment-in-cape-breton/