The threat alone of an Air Canada strike or lockout has already resulted in losses for the local tourism industry.

Hospitality Newfoundland and Labrador CEO Craig Foley says the cancellations started coming in Monday after the first hints of trouble from Air Canada.

The airline could start suspending some operations as early as Friday, with strike action possible by next week.

Foley says cancellations this time of year are just another gut punch for an industry still trying to recover from a pandemic.

“Ya know, this is revenue that many of the operators were depending on, and it’s going to be really hard to re-sell that now especially if we’re not able to move people here,” he said.

“As an island, access is our biggest challenge, particularly in tourism and hospitality. So if we can’t get people here, it’s very hard to operate as businesses, and with those cancellations, it’s really having an impact.”

Tourism Minister Steve Crocker joined Foley yesterday to discuss the situation with media.

He noted Air Canada gets about 4,500 people in and out of the province every day.

Crocker said he doesn’t want to tell federal Labour Minister Steve MacKinnon how to do his job …

“But I think at some point in time he needs to calculate what is necessary here to ensure that these thousands and thousands of jobs and this revenue and this part of our industry is protected,” he said. “He needs right now to be accounting for the impacts that this can have on industry around this country.”