The Windsor International Airport is preparing for the eventual reopening of the commercial airline terminal.
The commercial terminal is currently closed with no commercial airlines coming to the airport. Due to the closure, 35 of 46 staff have been laid off. Porter Airlines has announced it will start to reintroduce flights in July while Air Canada has indicated it will not fly to Windsor until September.
A number of steps have been taken to protect the health and safety of staff and travellers at the airport including increased hand sanitizing stations, social distancing signage and plexiglass at all the counters. Once travel resumes they will also be implementing a mask policy within the terminal.
Airport CEO Mark Galvin said they will constantly be assessing the impacts on travellers and will make more changes where necessary.
"It really all comes down to making people feel more comfortable as they go from point A to point B. What we have found in terms of best practices is that it's not really any one thing that does the trick, it's a combination of efforts that help mitigate the risk, not only to visitors and passengers but to staff as well," said Galvin. "We have to monitor the efficacy of everything we employ because it's important to continually look at what we're doing and make sure what we are doing has some effect."
Galvin said he expects that as people accept the new airport protocols they will be more comfortable travelling and the Windsor International Airport may be more appealing than larger airports like Toronto.
"We're going to everything to give passengers a reason to fly in and out of YQG. The reality is, a smaller airport gives you more efficiency and it gives you less exposure and it gives you a little more certainty," said Galvin.
Galvin said they are working with their airline partners to bring back routes as quickly and as safely as possible.
