Tory MP’s back support for aviation industry

Governments around the world have provided support for the struggling airline industry; the U.S. alone has pledged $21 billion to airports, but so far Canadian airports and airlines have not received any help.

In February 2020, Kelowna International Airport had 85 commercial flights a day, and by the end of March 2020, that number had dropped to just 14 a day, and that trend continued through to this year.

“It’s not just the airport operations that are so important to the North Okanagan Shuswap. KF Aerospce was doing 50 per cent of Westjet’s maintenance. If Westjet isn’t flying, they don’t need maintenance and they don’t need maintenance workers,” North Okanagan Shuswap MP Mel Arnold told a virtual forum sponsored by the Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday.

According to YLW passenger reports, volume fell from 2,032,019 flyers in 2019, to just 737,447 in 2020. With ongoing travel restrictions only 31,417 flew in January this year, typically one of the busiest months of the year for sun seeking vacationers.