Protecting Manitobans
 

Manitoba Charter Transport Recovery Program


On this page


Program Description


On December 13, 2021, the Province of Manitoba announced the creation of a new Manitoba Charter Transport Recovery Program, to be administered by Manitoba Economic Development and Jobs. The program’s purpose is to help Manitoba charter transport operators to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic through partial reimbursement of COVID-19 related expenses, marketing and other costs related to health and safety improvements in the fleet and the quality of service.



Eligibility/ Terms


Eligible Businesses:

  • Charter Tour Bus Operators - Eligible applicants will include charter bus operators, providers of interurban and rural bus transportation, and contracted school and employee bus transportation. 
  • Charter Tour Air Carriers - Eligible applicants will include providers of non-scheduled, charter air transportation, primarily to support tourism, commuter/business travel, essential passenger traffic to northern and remote communities and flight training.

Applicants under both streams:

  • must be permanent, Manitoba-based entities operating in the Province of Manitoba
  • must have been operating in Manitoba prior to April 1, 2020, and for a minimum of six consecutive months prior to program launch date.
  • must be in good standing with the Manitoba Companies Office
  • must hold an active and valid business number
  • must not be in receivership
  • must not be in arrears for taxes owing to Manitoba
  • must not have outstanding loans with Manitoba
  • must have applied for federal or provincial COVID-19 supports

Ineligible Businesses:

  • Applicants not based in Manitoba.
  • Government or municipal bus operators.
  • Air carriers providing primarily regular scheduled service (scheduled individually sold seats)
  • Charter air operators providing primarily industrial support services, examples of which include: aerial photography; construction support; aerial inspection; film production support; agriculture or wildlife surveys/inspection; search and rescue; medical evacuation; support for mineral exploration, pipeline surveys, or power line inspection; crop dusting, spraying, seeding; and surveillance.
  • Air carriers that have received support under the federal-provincial Remote Air Services Program for support of scheduled air services to remote northern communities during the COVID-19 pandemic, including charter carriers that are subsidiaries of such carriers.

Eligible Costs

Eligible costs are costs incurred related to maintaining, restarting or ramping up Manitoba-based operations for gradual reopening in alignment with provincial health orders. Eligible costs may include:

  • COVID-19 related expenses (e.g., protective equipment, fixtures/installations, cleaning supplies, related training, or other)
  • Maintenance
  • Insurance
  • Equipment lease costs (fleet-related)
  • Utilities
  • Marketing

The period for eligible costs is April 1, 2020 to November 30, 2021.

Ineligible Costs/Uses of Funds

  • Costs incurred for non-Manitoba-based operations
  • Labour costs
  • Shareholder loans, dividends and other related party distributions
  • Providing loans to others
  • Buying real estate or making investments
  • Paying bonuses to executives
  • Repayment of debts, other than debt to pay for eligible expenses
  • Capital expenditures, other than COVID-19 related fixtures and other COVID-19 related adaptation costs)



Application Guidelines


Application is now closed.


The program is a one-time support, offered through a single intake process.

The deadline for applications is February 11, 2022 at 4:00pm CST. No applications will be accepted after the deadline.

Only one application will be accepted per charter operator, including its affiliated companies, if any. Each applicant is required to complete the application and to submit supporting documentation. Manitoba Economic Development and Jobs reserves the right to request additional or supporting documentation as may be necessary on a case-by-case basis.

Manitoba Economic Development and Jobs will review all applications and supporting documents and determine the amount of eligible support. Allocations will be determined after all applications have been received and assessed.

Allocations will be calculated based on a combination of:

  1. Financial impact of the pandemic on the Applicant’s business, as demonstrated by year-over-year financial results from 2019 to 2021, and
  2. A percentage of aggregate eligible costs of all applications approved.

The maximum financial assistance for an eligible operator is $100,000.

Applicants are asked to submit external accountant-prepared financial statements for their Manitoba-based operations for fiscal years ending in 2019, 2020 and 2021. For applicants using a December 31 year-end, a year-to-date statement for 2021 may be submitted.

Please email the financial statements along with the completed expense claim form you downloaded to: EcDevPrograms@gov.mb.ca. The Subject Line should state: Charter Transport Recovery Program - Confirmation ID # XXXXXXX. Please use the confirmation ID that will be generated once you submit your application

Expense claim form: https://gov.mb.ca/asset_library/en/covid/charter-transport-support-claim.xlsx (excel format)