Canada’s Airports have been hit hard by the global pandemic, and that industry is looking for more in the way of government support as the industry looks at how it is going to rebound.

Yesterday, the St. John’s Board of Trade hosted an event with Federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra.

Monette Pasher, Executive Director of the Atlantic Canada Airports Association, attended that event and contends that the sector is “pretty much at rock bottom.” She says a big thing for regional airports such as St. John’s International is rent relief.

According to her, rent relief over the last year hasn’t done much as the airports aren’t generating any revenue, and ultimately they’d need to see it continue for the next five or so years as traffic recovers so they can pay back their debt.

Minister Alghabra agrees that the aviation sector has “paid a heavy price” due to the pandemic. He cites the deal with Air Canada as something that will be good for Newfoundland and Labrador as it will re-establish those regional connections and says they are proposing a lot of measures that will support airports.

He says we will see over the coming months and years exactly what those will look like, adding they will adjust as needed.