Airport ramps up safety as Air Canada prepares to resume Sault flights

NEWS RELEASE
SAULT STE. MARIE AIRPORT DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
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Traffic for the fiscal year to date April and May 2020 is 132 passengers. This represents a fiscal year to date decrease of 99.6 per cent. The past three months of traffic levels since the onset of the pandemic are as follows:

The Sault Ste Marie Airport Development Corporation (SSMADC) is a private not for profit corporation that owns and operates the Sault Ste. Marie Airport. The SSMADC self-funds all operational and capital costs with user fees, leases, and customer pay items such as car park and for capital purposes AIF. The airport is in essence a small city with its own water and sewage along with building and airfield and ground side maintenance, security and regulatory compliance.

Terry Bos, president and CEO of the SSMADC noted, “It has been very operationally challenging the last couple of months with virtually no revenue stream in order to maintain the operation of the airport for emergency services such as medivac flights and water bomber activity."

With the anticipated return of Air Canada Express on Monday, June 22, 2020 and the increasing flights from Bearskin Airlines, the SSMADC is moving to enhance safety at the airport by limiting the number of people who will be allowed to enter the terminal starting on Monday, June 15, 2020. Meeters and greeters will not be allowed to accompany passengers arriving and/or leaving in to the airport. An exception will be made for anyone who is travelling as an unaccompanied minor or assisting anyone with disabilities. This restriction will also apply to individuals that work at the airport – no attendance by family or acquaintances inside the terminal. All airport workers are asked to maintain a two-metre separation between colleagues and passengers wherever possible in the terminal and not to loiter in the terminal.

Also, effective Monday, June 15, 2020, all passengers and airport workers will be required to wear a face covering at all times when in public areas of the terminal. On April 20, Transport Canada issued a directive that people flying to or from Canadian airports are required to wear a face covering.

All of these changes are on top of already instituted additional cleaning/disinfecting, signage i.e. physical distancing, hand washing, etc., glass separation on all counters between staff and passengers, markings on floors for physical distancing, and spacing of seating and designation of empty seats to maintain physical distancing.

Terry Bos stated, “The airlines have done a great job in working to provide a safe travel experience. The airport is stepping up to play our part in ensuring the entire travel experience is a safe one.”

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