By Ethan Ready

now boarding

PG Airport onboard with major airlines’ loosening of social distancing

Jun 29, 2020 | 4:34 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – This may just be the turning point.

“I think it’s the start of a recovery process for the airlines, the aviation sector, and for Prince George Airport,” said PG Airport Authority CEO Gordon Duke. “The layered approach the airlines and airports are taking in-line with International International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) recommendations to ensure the safety of all of the passengers and stakeholders will take a while to fully turn things around for us at the airport, but we’ll see a gradual growth going forward as all of these initiatives come online.”

Last month, the airport says 1,910 passengers came through the airport compared to 42,537 in May 2019.

The country’s two largest airlines are ending their on-board seat distancing policies starting July 1, raising health concerns amid a pandemic that has devastated the travel industry.

Air Canada has blocked the sale of immediately adjacent seats in economy class, and WestJet Airlines has done the same throughout the entire plane, to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

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The carriers said Friday they will revert to health recommendations from the United Nation’s aviation agency and the IATA trade group, which will allow for full capacity flights.

“We’re not going to see a huge rapid spike back to where we were in 2019. What I think is going to happen is a very slow gradual return to those numbers that we saw previously,” said Duke.

He says he’s optimistic that the aviation industry will return back to how it was, it just will take longer.

Meanwhile, as Prince George has continued its service through Air Canada and WestJet, Central Mountain Air will begin its Phase 1 restart on July 7, 2020, which will see four routes return to and from YXS.

Duke admits they’re excited about the return.

“We’re really pleased to see Central Mountain Air come back. it gives connectivity to the North that we’ve really been missing.”

According to CMA’s CEO Bob Cummings, it was a careful process in configuring their Phase 1 plan.

Prince George will welcome back flights to and from Kamloops, Kelowna, Fort St John, as well as Terrace. Cummings says the low number of COVID-19 cases in through the Okanogan and Northern BC played into which routes they will be welcoming back.

While Phase 1 comes into effect on July 7, the CEO states they have no concrete plan for the rest of their phases.

“The phases are very very hard to forecast. It’s based on safety, it’s based on demand, and there’s a financial element to that. It’s very measured, one step, one phase at a time.”

In the next two weeks, Central Mountain Air is expecting to have a decision made on their Phase 2 plans.

Now while Air Canada and WestJet are loosening their social distancing mandates onboard their flights, Cummings says CMA flights are laid out to respect social distancing as it is.

“The aircraft that Central Mountain Air is using for its service, there isn’t adjacent side-by-side seating. There is an aisle between the seats, everyone has a window seat. It’s configured a bit different than the airlines that have the middle seat, so there’s a natural physical distancing that occurs. As well, we’ve blocked a couple of seats and we do have physical distancing, more than the main airline carriers.”

Central Mountain Air, as with all flights now in response to COVID-19, will endure deep cleaning and sanitization in between flights, as well as each day. Passengers will also be required to do an online health questionnaire.

Prince George Airport was not part of Pacific Coastal Airlines’ phase two relaunch plan last month, however, it says it continues to work closely with all of its airline partners to facilitate service re-launches.

From end to end, the facilities and measures in protecting passengers have been significantly enhanced in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19.