Key takeaways:
- Staffing problems at the airport’s fire hall stopped most passenger flights from landing or taking off.
- Only cargo, medevac flights, and airplanes with rarer than 19 seats could land at or leave from St. John’s International Airport as of Tuesday. At the same time, Air Canada revoked eight commercial flights Tuesday evening.
- All passenger flights restarted on Wednesday.
Flights at the St. John’s international airport resume temporarily:
St. John’s International Airport restarted routine procedures Wednesday morning after staffing problems at its fire hall stopped many passenger flights from landing or taking off.
But the answer is brief.
In a report to the media, the St. John’s International Airport Authority stated that 8 a.m. Wednesday commercial functions have restarted, though the “answer is not permanent.”
“We urge passengers to ensure upcoming travel plans with their airline as we resume to work through this problem as a matter of importance,” the report reads. Source – cbc.ca
Six of the nine firefighters hired at the airport have gone on vacation due to worries over what they call a toxic workplace. The union depicting the firefighters accuses airport management.
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With staffing levels so low, most commercial passenger service at the terminal was suspended Tuesday evening, directing to eight flight revocations.
On Monday, Lisa Bragg, the airport authority’s director of business growth and marketing, informed the media that aviation was being impacted but didn’t address assertions created by the union. The airport authority refused to interview the media.
Arbitrator reached in
In a tweet early Wednesday morning, federal Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan stated a mediator had been brought in to help settle the conflict between the airport authority and the firefighters.
Chris Bussey, Atlantic vice-president for the Union of Canadian Transportation Employees, stated Wednesday morning two of his union’s firefighters would staff the fire hall for the following 24 hours while talks between the union, the airport, and the mediator persist through the day.
