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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/flair-airlines-saint-john-ysj-1.5908808 

---------- Original message ----------
From: "Higgs, Premier Blaine (PO/CPM)"<Blaine.Higgs@gnb.ca>
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2021 03:03:02 +0000
Subject: Automatic reply: Methinks Higgy et al know why Jamina Kotak
and her boss Mr Jones no doubt enjoyed my phone call but I doubt their
buddy Derrick Stanford did N'esy Pas?
To: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com>

Thank you for taking the time to write to us.

Due to the high volume of emails that we receive daily, please note
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visit www.gnb.ca/coronavirus<http://www.gnb.ca/coronavirus>.

If this is a Media Request, please contact the Premier’s office at
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Thank you.


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Nous vous remercions d’avoir pris le temps de nous écrire.

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Merci.


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Fredericton, New-Brunswick/Nouveau-

---------- Original message ----------
From: Media Relations / Relations Medias <media@tc.gc.ca>
Date: Wed, 10 Feb 2021 22:03:06 +0000
Subject: RE: Methinks Omar Alghabra and his parliamentary buddy
Chris.Bittle know why Stephen Jones the CEO of Flair Airlnes has a lot
of fans in the Maritimes today N'esy Pas Blaine Higgs and Rob Moore?
To: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com>

**Le texte français suit l’anglais.**

Thank you for writing to Transport Canada’s Media Relations mailbox.

If this is a media enquiry, we will get back to you as soon as
possible. Please note this mailbox is monitored Monday to Friday from
8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. EST, except on national and statutory holidays.

For all other enquiries, please visit Transport Canada’s Contact Us
webpage: http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/contact-us.htm.

Thank you,

Media Relations
Transport Canada
Tel: 613-993-0055
media@tc.gc.ca<mailto:media@tc.gc.ca>

 [cid:image001.png@01D3652B.

Rapid testing would be a further step, he said.

"Right now there is only one active airport in New Brunswick with commercial traffic and there's no [rapid] testing there yet," Stanford said.

"I'd like to see rapid testing available in airports, and I think that would be a key part" of turning things around for New Brunswick airports.

Other Atlantic airports have urged broader use of rapid testing as well, arguing that rapid testing would cut down on mandatory 14-day self-isolation periods because results are ready in about 15 minutes. 

The federal government distributed 3.8 million of the tests to provincial health authorities late last year — about 200,000 of which were sent to New Brunswick.

The province's chief medical officer of health has said they are being used "very judiciously," because there are differences in how sensitively they pick up COVID-19.

In the case of travellers who are asymptomatic, Dr. Jennifer Russell has said, "the gold standard really is the PCR test that's done in the lab."

The destinations and start dates included in Flair's expansion plan are:  

• Saint John, May 1
• Halifax, May 1
• Ottawa, May 1
• Waterloo Region, ON., May 1
• Charlottetown, June 4
• Thunder Bay, ON.,June 
• Victoria, B.C., July
• Abbotsford, B.C., August

About the Author

Marie Sutherland

Marie Sutherland is a web writer with CBC New Brunswick based in Saint John. You can reach her at marie.sutherland@cbc.ca.

• Follow Marie on Twitter

CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices

 

Discount airline Flair announces expansion into Maritimes

Expansion put on hold last year

Kevin Yarr· CBC News· Posted: Feb 10, 2021 7:51 AM AT

With the addition of the new destinations, Flair will serve 18 cities in Canada. (flyflair.com)

Flair Airlines will offer service to the Maritimes this spring and summer, the discount carrier announced Wednesday.

Flair, which bills itself as Canada's only independent low-fare airline, announced flights will begin May 1 in Halifax and Saint John, and in Charlottetown on June 4.

The airline will add the following Maritime routes:

• Service to Toronto, Ottawa and Waterloo out of Halifax.
• Service to Toronto from Charlottetown and Saint John.

Flair had originally intended to expand into the Maritimes in 2020, but put those plans on hold because of the pandemic.The Maritime flights are part of a broader expansion that includes eight new Canadian destinations.

According to the Flair website, a return flight from Charlottetown to Toronto, including taxes and fees, will cost $98.27.

Flair president and CEO Stephen Jones said Flair continues to support the restrictions on non-essential travel, but he believes travel restrictions will have eased enough by this summer for the airline to get a full domestic network flying.

Jones acknowledged there is still uncertainty.

"No one's got a crystal ball, but we just have to make our plans based on the best evidence that we have," he said.

"If we don't decide now and we don't move now it'll be too late for the summer, because we need to allow some time for people to book flights. So we're planning now, we're going on sale now, and we're hoping that people will start to plan their summers now with a degree of confidence and positivity as well."

The airline is providing COVID coverage that will allow people to get refunds or change flights.

With the new destinations, Flair will serve 18 cities in Canada.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/air-canada-jobs-1.5906896

Air Canada cuts 1,500 more jobs and cancels 17 more routes

New coronavirus travel restrictions have battered industry

An Air Canada check-in area is shown at Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport on May 16, 2020. ( Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/10/13/2107284/0/en/Flair-Airlines-announces-new-Chief-Executive-Officer-Stephen-Jones.html

Flair Airlines announces new Chief Executive Officer – Stephen Jones

Jamina Kotak
Flair Airlines
780.887.9209
media@flyflair.com

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Media Relations / Relations Medias <media@tc.gc.ca>
Date: Mon, 8 Feb 2021 04:24:08 +0000
Subject: RE: Methins Dougy Ford should it interesting that Trudeau the
Younger wants to deport truck drivers and guardian angels when we need
them after allowing in an astounding number of illegall immigrants for
years N'esy Pas Blaine Higgs?
To: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com>

**Le texte français suit l’anglais.**

Thank you for writing to Transport Canada’s Media Relations mailbox.

If this is a media enquiry, we will get back to you as soon as
possible. Please note this mailbox is monitored Monday to Friday from
8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. EST, except on national and statutory holidays.

For all other enquiries, please visit Transport Canada’s Contact Us
webpage: http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/contact-us.htm.

Thank you,

Media Relations
Transport Canada
Tel: 613-993-0055
media@tc.gc.ca<mailto:media@tc.gc.ca>

 [cid:image001.png@01D3652B.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/air-canada-saint-john-sydney-airport-atlantic-fredericton-halifax-1.5832712

Air Canada suspends all Saint John flights, and Fredericton-Toronto service

Sydney also loses all flights, and 3 other Atlantic routes suspended

CBC News· Posted: Dec 08, 2020 1:37 PM AT 

In June, Air Canada indefinitely suspended 11 routes in Atlantic Canada and closed stations in Bathurst, N.B., and Wabush, N.L. (Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press)

Air Canada is suspending all flights out of the Saint John Airport and all Toronto flights out of the Fredericton International Airport indefinitely, starting Jan. 11, because of the second wave of the pandemic.

The airline is also suspending all operations at the J.A. Douglas McCurdy Sydney Airport until further notice and temporarily suspending Deer Lake-Halifax, Charlottetown-Toronto and Halifax-Ottawa service.

"The second wave of COVID-19 infections is piling added pressure on a sector on the verge of collapse," the Atlantic Canada Airports Association said in a statement on Tuesday.

"This is bigger than a blow to our region; we could be looking at the end of some our small regional airports if solutions are not found."

At the Saint John Airport, Air Canada flights are currently the only flights, with one arrival and one departure from Montreal daily.

The airport will remain open for medical emergencies, the Coast Guard and corporate clients, said Derrick Stanford, president and CEO of the Saint John Airport and president of the Atlantic Canada Airports Association.

The Fredericton airport has been advised it will temporarily lose its three-times-a-week service to Toronto, but Air Canada will continue to offer daily flights to Montreal, said spokesperson Kate O'Rourke.

"Service has been whittled down to an unsustainable level for our airports," Stanford said. "Our industry cannot survive and operate in these conditions, and we are seeing the worst-case scenario playing out here today.

"This will have a huge impact on our region's economy, on the ability of families to reconnect, on the movement of essential workers, and on airport employees and businesses."

Air Canada regrets impact

Air Canada said it did not take the decisions lightly.

"We regret the impact on our customers and community partners, but it is increasingly difficult to continue to operate in this challenging environment, without specific financial support from government, with whom we continue to wait for negotiations to start," a spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

Passenger volumes are still less than eight per cent of normal "with no horizon for recovery," it said.

The Saint John Airport will remain open for medical emergencies, the Coast Guard and corporate clients. (Graham Thompson/CBC)

Saint John came close to losing its only Air Canada flight at the end of November, with bookings looking "quite grim," but managed to hold onto it through the holidays, said Stanford.

Fourteen-day self-isolation requirements, the lack of a rapid COVID-19 testing program at airports, and the Canada-U.S. border being closed are "just stunting demand like crazy," he said.

"We can't expect our business partner, Air Canada, to keep flying planes empty into Saint John."

Stanford hopes that the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine will help improve consumer confidence to "get people … back to travelling the way they used to travel" and that Air Canada will resume its Saint John service by April.

He also has meetings this week with the federal government to learn more about the funding programs for airports announced Nov. 30.

"We're hopeful that we'll be able to take advantage of them, so that would be a welcome relief for us who've already depleted a lot of our savings trying to ride out the pandemic," he said.

The funding includes $229 million in rent relief to airport authorities that pay rent to the federal government and $186 million to help small and regional airports through the "Airport Capital Assistance Program."

Mayor vows 'all of our energy'

Saint John Mayor Don Darling said the airport is a key economic driver in the area, with an economic impact of more than $90 million annually and supporting 650 jobs.

It also plays a vital role in the growth for southern New Brunswick, in the movement of goods and the movement of people for both business and tourism.

"So that's where we have to put all of our energy and our focus now," he said.

Although many industries have been hard-hit by the pandemic, the airline industry has been "decimated," said Darling.

Saint John council will urge the federal government to provide funding to airlines so they can continue to provide regional air service to Atlantic Canada, and funding for the Saint John Airport to ensure it remains open, he said.

Council also plans to encourage the provincial government to investigate and pilot initiatives, such as rapid COVID-19 testing, with a goal of reducing the amount of time that travellers are required to self-isolate, Darling said.

The Fredericton airport continues to work with governments and airlines to find ways to safely restart travel while the vaccine is rolled out, O'Rourke said.

"This has been an incredibly difficult year for everyone in the air industry, including airlines and airports across Canada, the companies that supply us, and the businesses that rely on air access," she said in an emailed statement.

"Air access is critical for the movement of essential travellers now, and the recovery of our province's economy when the pandemic ends."

This is the third major round of cuts to air service in the Atlantic region in the last six months.

In October, WestJet announced it was suspending 80 per cent of its capacity. In June Air Canada indefinitely suspended 11 routes and closed stations in Bathurst and Wabush, N.L.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-flair-airlines-maritimes-cancelled-1.5596229

Flair Airlines postpones Maritimes expansion

Expansion was planned for mid-May

Kevin Yarr· CBC News· Posted: Jun 03, 2020 8:43 AM AT 

No new date is set for the arrival of Flair Airlines in the Maritimes. (flyflair.com)