Employee and Stakeholder Information Update
A message from Air North President and CEO Joe Sparling
The coronavirus pandemic first started to impact our business in March 2020, and who would have thought that we would still be dealing with its impact almost two years later. COVID-19 has accounted for more than $18 million in losses for us, and we would have found it difficult, if not impossible, to survive losses of this magnitude without help. We are very thankful for the almost $16 million is assistance received under the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy Program (CEWS) and the Northern Essential Air Services Program (NEAS), but as financial assistance winds down, our airline, and the industry as a whole, needs to find ways to operate sustainably through the ongoing impacts of COVID-19.
The Yukon market was well on its way to recovery during the second half of 2021, but, as the data below shows, we peaked at 79% of pre-COVID traffic in December and the Omicron variant caused a backslide to 57% in January. February traffic, to date, is showing a slight improvement over January and bookings for March and beyond are looking promising.