As post-pandemic travel reopens, direct flights from N.L. to Europe still not on the itinerary

With pandemic restrictions lifting across much of Canada and in many other parts of the world, lots of folks are itching to take that long-delayed vacation or business trip.

And while it's become increasingly easy to hop on a non-stop flight from St. John's to numerous cities and provinces within Canada, the same cannot be said for international destinations.

For most of the past two years, the only consistent, direct, international flight landing at St. John's International Airport originated from the French islands of St-Pierre-Miquelon, west of the Burin Peninsula. 

Air Saint-Pierre was granted an exemption to the 2020 travel ban that allowed it to send medevac flights to St. John's. As some restrictions eased through 2021, that service expanded to include two weekly commercial flights, according to Lisa Bragg of the St. John's International Airport Authority.

But even as international travel opens up, transatlantic flights from the province's largest airport to the United Kingdom and continental Europe are still not on the itinerary.

Bragg compares the situation to a restaurant offering a limited number of top-selling and high-profit menu items. 

She says airlines have seen significantly lower passenger volumes and reduced routes over the past two years, so as they try to recover the focus has to be on higher-traffic routes.

"While we're very proud of having lots of passengers, and we're the capital city airport, right now many of the airlines do need to focus on the hubs. And hopefully it will come back to us. But right now that's one of the reasons we don't yet have the European connection back," Bragg said.

Weekly flights from St. John's to the United Kingdom were the norm not too long ago.

In fact, according to Bragg, St. John's has a history of direct European flights going back more than 70 years.

"There's actually been a direct or a non-stop, year-round flight flight to Europe since the 1940s until about 2006," she said.

More recently, Air Canada operated a direct flight to London's Heathrow Airport from 2010 to 2019, while WestJet offered direct flights to Dublin, from 2014 to 2018, and London's Gatwick airport from 2016 to 2018.

The Air Canada flight was suspended in early 2019, after the Boeing 737 Max 8 aircrafts were grounded worldwide due to safety concerns after a couple of highly publicized crashes. 

When asked if there are any plans to reinstate the route, Air Canada said in a series of emailed statements that the pandemic forced the company to extend the suspension of that flight route until further notice.