The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the air travel industry to a screeching hault in Saskatchewan.

“It could be until 2023 before air traffic returns to 2019 levels,” said CJ Dushinski, SKyxe Saskatoon Airport vice president of business development and service quality.

Saskatoon’s airport is basically empty. Foot traffic at SKYxe has dropped by roughly 90 per cent since this time last year.

“We used to see 3,000 passengers a day and realistically we are averaging in the past few weeks, especially, it’s been around 40 passengers a day,” said Dushinski.

A total of 1.49 million passengers used the airport in 2019, the second busiest year on record.

The drastic drop in business has had an impact on companies that rely on the airport for revenue.

Lucky Bastard (LB) Distillers opened their business in the SKYxe airport in 2018. It’s an additional source of income, but also a way to market their product.

“They will see our story and get some information about distillery tours; we definitely get traffic to the main distillery through the airport,” said chief brand officer Deandra Bailey.

She adds the airport location sees between 50 to 100 visitors per day who try their samples.

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Currently, their storefront and all restaurants in the airport are closed, leaving only vending machines for travellers for now.

Only an upstairs Relay convenience store is open during select hours until the airport gives the go-ahead to open.

Bailey said that looks like fall 2020 at the earliest.

Pauline Stachiw, the owner of Prairie Unique and Prairie North gift shops, says because of a limit to the number of flights and passengers, they could face a prolonged period before they reopen. They have been closed since March 18.

She adds they are expecting a do a trial test in mid-June to see if they can reopen with sustainability.

The stores have been around for nearly 30 years and this is one of the biggest tests, Stachiw said, adding their supply chain for their products has also been hit by the pandemic and greatly slowed.

Lack of air travel has also put a halt to tourism in Saskatoon, which has the tourism industry thinking about the future to get back on track.

“What can we do to generate in the next term which will be local intra-provincial travel in Saskatchewan,” said Tourism Saskatoon president and CEO Todd Brandt.

“That’s people getting in their cars and coming to Saskatoon or leaving Saskatoon and going to a (provincial) park.”

Brandt adds that it will be the go-to form of travel for the time being and it will have to used as a starting point to get tourism in the province back to where it was pre-pandemic.

Travel for camping at provincial parks in some provinces is limited to provincial residence only during this time. That is the case in Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C. because of COVID-19.

The industry brought in roughly $560 million to the Bridge City in 2019. This year that number is expected to be 10 to 15 per cent of that because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Expects with SKYxe feel it won’t be months but years before air traffic returns to a level it was at prior to COVID-19.

“The forecast that we’ve seen from of our industry partners, some of our airlines, are really drastic and are looking at 2023 before we actually see a full recovery to 2019 levels.”

Questions about COVID-19? Here are some things you need to know:

Symptoms can include fever, cough and difficulty breathing — very similar to a cold or flu. Some people can develop a more severe illness. People most at risk of this include older adults and people with severe chronic medical conditions like heart, lung or kidney disease. If you develop symptoms, contact public health authorities.

To prevent the virus from spreading, experts recommend frequent handwashing and coughing into your sleeve. They also recommend minimizing contact with others, staying home as much as possible and maintaining a distance of two metres from other people if you go out.

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