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James Bogusz, president and CEO of the Regina Airport Authority, gave a presentation to a group of businesspeople at the Heritage Inn on June 21 touting the organization’s efforts to bounce back from the pandemic’s effects on travel.
The luncheon was organized by the Moose Jaw & District Chamber of Commerce and attended by businesspeople and leaders in the community including Maryse Carmichael, Moose Jaw’s city manager; Greg Simpson of Simpson Seeds, who also serves as the president and CEO of the Moose Jaw Airport Authority; Scott Greenough, director of CAE’s flight training operations at 15 Wing, and several other important businesses.
Bogusz sought to reassure Moose Jaw’s business community that the Regina Airport Authority (RAA), the federally regulated not-for-profit that owns and operates the Regina Airport, is doing everything possible not only to recover from the pandemic, but to improve the region’s connectedness over and above what it was before.
Thanks to support from the whole region, he shared, they are now back at more than 90 per cent of pre-pandemic capacity, and are ahead of many other similar-sized Canadian airports.
“We are only an airport that can serve a community because of businesses like you that create the demand for flights. This is not one entity — this is truly a collaborative effort,” Bogusz said. “And it’s all about the economic generation, or GDP, of all of southern Saskatchewan.”
Bogusz acknowledged that the past two years had been a “total disaster” for the airport business. He blamed public health restrictions in response to COVID for turning airports into “ghost towns,” but also discussed business management failures and mitigation decisions such as the Sunwing debacle stranding hundreds of Canadians in Mexico for weeks and months this past winter, and Air Canada’s decision to relocate their hub to Calgary, resulting in the loss of several Air Canada routes to and from Regina.
Bogusz said that most people don’t know that it was only last month, May 2023, that the United States finally dropped its COVID vaccine travel requirements.
“One-fifth, folks, one-fifth of our people could not go down from our province, roughly, if you look at the vaccine rates. So, we are now ‘triple-CODE-RED’ pressing back on the US file,” Bogusz said. “One of the top priorities of our community and the airport authority is to re-establish a year-round link to a major US hub.
“But we need an American carrier. We’re targeting United and American Airlines. … United is finally looking at Canada more seriously. … Make no mistake, you cannot get network-wide connectivity without an American carrier offering the service.”
If the RAA can bring a major American airline to the city, rather than using Canadian connections, Bogusz explained, the entire US network would become available. They need a carrier who can give access to a major hub such as Denver or Chicago.
Other air travel news Bogusz reviewed included WestJet’s recent acquisition of Sunwing, new Canadian airlines like Lynx Air and Canada Jetlines looking for more routes, and premium carrier Porter Airlines gaining momentum.
“We’re in contact with all of them,” Bogusz said. “We’re not going to stop, we’re pretty tenacious.”
With travel steadily increasing, the RAA is tackling some infrastructure projects, including repaving the main runway and installing new lighting on the south side, environmental improvements to the glycol anti-icing system, a system that makes the airport’s natural gas usage more efficient, and brand-new check-in kiosks throughout the building.
The airport also finally has a permanent Regina city bus route.
Bogusz added that as a private entity, the RAA relies on customers. Please park at the airport, spend money at local airport businesses, and most of all fly frequently, he said, to help keep prosperity local and continue building Saskatchewan’s economy.
