Loosened vaccine mandates for domestic travel could provide economic boost: Regina airport

The Regina airport is hopeful loosened COVID-19 measures will provide an economic boost to the region, with vaccine mandates on domestic travel set to end later this month.

The federal government announced Tuesday that as of June 20, COVID-19 vaccination will no longer be required to board a plane or train in Canada.

James Bogusz, the president and CEO of the Regina Airport Authority, said he is “absolutely thrilled” about the change to the travel rules.

“For Regina this represents the opportunity to finally rebound to full strength,” Bogusz said.

“This is about as good of an announcement as I could possibly have hoped for and we believe it’s going to help save the summer when it comes to tourism and visiting friends and family.”

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Bogusz said allowing the approximate one-fifth of Saskatchewan residents who are not fully vaccinated to travel again could bring in some additional money to the airport and Regina area.

“This represents millions of dollars of unrealized economic activity in our region alone, and when you consider the country as a whole, its hundreds of millions of dollars of economic activity that we can now start capturing to help bolster the economy,” he said.

These rule changes do not affect the guidelines for re-entry into Canada. Anyone returning from international destinations who are not fully vaccinated will still be required to provide a pre-entry test result and quarantine for 14 days.

Mask use will continue to be enforced while passengers are on a plane or train.

"The decision today is not based on something that we woke up yesterday or this morning, and decided to do. We've done our homework… What got us [to] today was a period of discussions, of consultations, of looking at the big picture, of preparing ourselves for a potential wave in the fall, but [also] the current situation today," Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said Tuesday.

"It's clear that the COVID situation is not the same now as it was last fall when we implemented the vaccine mandate."

Vaccination requirements for federally regulated transportation sectors and federal government employees will also be suspended effective June 20.

Last week, Bogusz and the Regina Airport Authority joined calls for Ottawa to relax the remaining travel restrictions.

“Our airport, with a number of other Canadian Airport Council airports, have been encouraging and recommending to the federal government to continue to reduce COVID measures, and today we are seeing an amazing opportunity for people to be reconnected right across from coast to coast,” he said.

With files from CTVNews.ca