Air Canada ending service in Medicine Hat indefinitely

By medicinehatnews on March 11, 2020.

cbrown@medicinehatnews.com
@MHNBrown

Air Canada will be discontinuing service in Medicine Hat indefinitely as of April 1.

According to a release from the Medicine Hat & District Chamber of Commerce, representatives from the airline made the decision known on March 10.

“We are very disappointed by the announcement, as Air Canada has provided service to Medicine Hat for many years. Unfortunately, the economic conditions, along with the recent concerns with Covid-19 have resulted in this decision. However when things improve, we will commence our collective efforts to try to have them return to our market again,” stated airport manager Jeff Huntus, in the release.

The release goes on to state multiple factors impacted the decision, including the switch to the Beechcraft, the added competition, the economic impacts and the current situation with Corvid-19, which have all impacted load factors resulting in the decision.

“Air Canada will not be looking at smaller aircrafts or different flight times and it was also confirmed that there are other communities that will be impacted by this decision as well and that this decision is certainly not exclusive to the Medicine Hat market,” the release reads.

“While this news is unfortunate, we are pleased that the Medicine Hat Airport will still be able to continue to provide scheduled air service between Medicine Hat and Calgary through WestJet,” commented Chamber president Tracey Noullett. “We hope that both business and leisure travellers will support this service so we can have continued air service from Medicine Hat into the future.”

More to come…

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