Air Canada suspended all flights to Fredericton
On January 23rd, Air Canada suspended all flights to Fredericton, NB, because of the second wave of the pandemic of COVID19. Many people have been affected by the decision; however, international students were hardest hit by not being able to travel to their hometowns to visit their relatives, or by being there, and finding it extremely difficult to return to Fredericton as in previous months.
Anahi Alvarez is a second-year international student from Ecuador at St. Thomas University. She traveled back to her home country after the university announced that the in-person classes would be canceled, and she could work remotely. However, after Air Canada’s announcement, she was stressed because she did not know if she was going to be able to return to Fredericton from Ecuador since the airline was suspending all its flights.
“It was a terrible news. I actually passed four days without knowing what to do. Should I stay here in Ecuador? Should I go to Freddy?” said Alvarez.
This situation also affected her family. Alvarez’s parents did not want to risk their daughter’s health or studies. However, the Alvarez family knew the best decision was to return to Fredericton, because the situation is better controlled than in Ecuador and there is less chance of getting sick and contracting the virus.
The Ecuadorian student also fears for her international friends, since
they are in the same situation. They do not know if they are going to be able to return to Fredericton in the next few weeks, or worse, months, mainly because the airline’s return is indefinite. Air Canada has not presented an approximate return date yet, which is alarming thousands of students and their families.
“Air Canada is not flying there, and WestJet has also cancelled flights. It is hard that they are going to arrive to Fredericton,” said Alvarez when asked whether she thought her foreign friends could find a way to return to the northern province. “Maybe they can arrive first to Moncton and then they can do their self-isolation back there and travel back to Freddy.”
Alvarez prays not only for Fredericton’s population, but New Brunswick’s in general are more conscientious. She hopes that everyone is responsible and decides to follow the rules so that we can end the pandemic as soon as possible and be able to return to our previous lives.
