Major airlines trimming routes as Iran war drives up cost of jet fuel: Regina airport CEO

With the ongoing conflict in the Middle East driving up the price of jet fuel – along with all petroleum products – some airlines are making changes in order to save money.

According to James Bogusz, CEO of the Regina Airport Authority, travellers can expect to see some prices rising and some flights operating less frequently as airlines work to consolidate their routes, but he added that seat capacity is still expected to rise during the busy summer months.

Read more:

• ‘Won’t be the same’: Former Snowbirds commanding officer disappointed with airshow hiatus
• ‘Very expensive summer’ ahead, as gas prices could hit $2 a litre: Petroleum analyst
• $2.2M annual funding for Saskatoon-Minneapolis direct flights extended by Sask. government

Bogusz joined The Greg Morgan Morning Show on 980 CJME on Tuesday to explain more about the situation, and what flyers can expect to see over the summer season.

Listen to the full interview with Bogusz, or read the transcript below:

The following transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

GREG MORGAN: It’s the busy summer travel season, and a lot of industry experts were recommend booking early and planning ahead to get the best price, not just because of the war, but because prices are going to likely remain elevated for quite some time. I’m assuming, James, it’s been a little taxing on the industry, even here, hasn’t it?

JAMES BOGUSZ: Greg, this jet fuel issue has been significant, really, right across Canada, and we’re seeing our major airlines – Air Canada and WestJet – doing some flight consolidation. In plain language, that basically means they’re trimming routes, or they’re trimming capacity, so they can basically build their loads on the existing aircraft, and we’re seeing impacts here in Regina, specifically with a couple of routes being reduced, and overall capacity to places like Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver just being trimmed and reduced back, basically to last year’s levels.

So in other words, you’re saying that perhaps some direct flights to Calgary have been eliminated, but everyone is being pushed over to an earlier flight or a later flight?

BOGUSZ: That’s exactly right. And we’re seeing some notable cuts, things that would be nonstop services. Let me give you a couple of examples. Right now, up until the end of June, we have a twice-a-week flight to Halifax – very popular service last year in the summer – so this is July, August and into early September. It’s dropping to once a week, so they’re getting rid of the Tuesday departure. Minneapolis is also taking a hit. We’re going to see the Saturday departure removed from the schedule in peak summer. Typically, that flight’s been seven days a week. It’s now going to drop to six days a week, so that gives you an example of some of the trimming that WestJet is doing on their schedule.

These airlines have also bumping up baggage fees and the cost to fly itself. Do you see that happening more as well?

BOGUSZ: We’ve certainly noticed an increase of base fares. It hasn’t been as significant as I would have expected, given the fuel price being where it’s at, but I am noticing the airlines continue to pump out sales. In fact, we’re doing a little bit of travel this summer, my wife and I, and we found a pretty decent deal to get back to the west coast with WestJet that we just booked. So, make sure – and I’ve said this before, but I’m going to remind the listeners – if you haven’t done it already, sign up for their email lists, they’re regularly putting out flash sales and discount codes. It does make a big difference on the base fares, for sure.

You said Halifax is down to one per week. How does that affect the bottom line over YQR?

BOGUSZ: We’ve seen a tremendous amount of capacity that was programmed in for the summer, so despite having these reductions, we’re still going to see a little bit of growth in terms of seat count over peak summer. It was just such a large margin before. Now, we’re going to be hovering much closer to 2025 levels, but at the end of the day, there’s still lots of flights and there’s lots of capacity into these major markets, and if the nonstop is not available the day you want, you can obviously connect through a major hub.

Clearly, this is going to continue as long as war in the Middle East continues. Inevitably, if it does get settled, it’s going to take some time to recover and get back to the norm, isn’t it?

BOGUSZ: Well, airlines are fairly nimble. They respond to market conditions. We’re hopeful that if things can improve, we’ll see a restoration of capacity. Right now, it’s a little bit early to talk about the winter. We’re just finally getting some nice summer weather, but looking ahead and looking at what’s been programmed in the schedule, it’s looking pretty positive toward the end of the year.

And the inside of the terminal? Any progress there? Any changes?

BOGUSZ: We are currently undergoing what I call a modest renovation in our passenger waiting area. If you’ve been in the terminal last couple of weeks, you’ll notice we’ve got a whole pile of new carpeting going down. We’re also making that modest renovation to gates six, seven and eight near the 306 Bistro and Bar. We’re basically in filling a space of the airport that was just not being used. It’s going to really increase the passenger waiting area. New seats, more space for lineups, making sure we have the ability to handle growth in the future and, frankly, just make your experience more comfortable in that hold room.