Wayne Long, Member of Parliament for Saint John, Rothesay, on March 1 announced the Government of Canada is making important safety investments at the Saint John Airport, CYSJ, which is located eight nautical miles east northeast of the business district in Saint John, New Brunswick. In 2018, well before the COVID-19 pandemic, the CYSJ terminal handled 282,217 passengers, a seven per cent increase over the previous year.

Through Transport Canada’s Airports Capital Assistance Program (ACAP), the Government of Canada will provide CYSJ with more than $1.8 million to purchase safety equipment including: an aircraft rescue firefighting vehicle; a shelter to house and protect the firefighting vehicle; a snowblower to keep airside surfaces clear; and a runway surface friction tester.

This funding is in addition to the more than $500,000 in Airports Capital Assistance Program funding provided to the airport in May 2021, to support the rehabilitation of airside apron floodlighting and electrical constant current regulators.

“The Saint John Airport is an important hub for residents and businesses in this region,” said Long. “This investment will help maintain continued safe and reliable airport operations for folks in Southern New Brunswick, many of whom depend on their local airport not only for personal and business travel, but also for access to routine and emergency medical care in larger centres.”

Since ACAP in 1995, the Government of Canada states it has invested more $1.2 billion for 1,215 projects at 199 local, regional and smaller National Airports System airports across the country. ACAP, as announced in the Fall Economic Statement 2020, was to receive a one-time funding top-up of $186 million over two years. This update also introduced a temporary expansion of eligibility for ACAP to allow National Airports System airports with less than one million annual passengers in 2019 to apply for funding under the program in 2021-2022 and 2022-2023. The eligible National Airports System airports are: Gander; Charlottetown; Saint John; Fredericton; Moncton; Thunder Bay; London; and Prince George.

(Photo: Saint John Airport)