Regina Mayor Sandra Masters has signed a letter asking Nav Canada, and Federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra, to not close YQR’s air traffic control tower.
The letter was also signed by the mayors of Whitehorse, Prince George, Fort McMurray, Windsor, and Sault Ste. Marie, whose airports face the same fate.
We are battling for our YQR air traffic control tower. Losing our service in Regina would be economically and socially…
Posted by Mayor Sandra Masters YQR on Wednesday, February 10, 2021
Masters says for airports like YQR to have any chance of surviving the pandemic, they need their towers.
“Our hope is to get a meeting amongst the six mayors under review with Minister Alghabra in order to discuss stopping the review at present and allowing us to come out of the pandemic with all of our air tower controls in place,” said Masters. “If that review needs to happen in the future, that’s ok, but at least for the next three years, we need our air traffic control in order to come back from the pandemic.”
The letter comes after more than 100 employees in 7 cities received layoff notices from Nav Canada.
Masters says it’s extremely important for YQR to keep its tower, as the airport was growing in demand before the pandemic started.
“We were on a trendline that we were going to hit the minimum movements required in relatively short order prior to the pandemic, in which event, we would never even make this list,” said Masters. “So, I’m hopeful that three years out, four years out, we’ll be at the movement level, we won’t come under review ever again in the future, and we’ll just continue to grow.”
Also listed under the letter’s signatories are Jim Carr, Special Representative for the Prairies, Yukon Premier Sandy Silver, B.C. Premier John Horgan, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Quebec Premier Francois Legault and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe.
