The Charlottetown Airport Authority is pleased to share that they achieved another year of record passenger movement at the airport. Last year, a record 383,183 passengers travelled through the Charlottetown Airport, representing a 3.4% gain over 2018. The growth is being attributed to Air Canada and WestJet’s increased seat capacity during the peak summer months of July and August as well as an additional daily flight to Ottawa that ran from June to September.
The airport expects to see this success continue in 2020 with the welcoming of a new airline, Swoop, an ultra-low-cost carrier which will begin direct service to Hamilton International Airport in June and run three days a week until October. They also announced earlier in January that WestJet will begin non-stop service to Calgary, Alberta. This service will also start in late June and operate four times weekly. These new flights will result in approximately 30,000 additional seats to the PEI market in 2020.
“I am very pleased to report another year of strong traffic growth in 2019”, said Doug Newson, CEO of the Charlottetown Airport Authority. “Our strong tourism product and thriving business community continue to drive increased demand for air travel to and from our province. And with the recent announcements from Swoop and WestJet, I’m optimistic for even more success in 2020.”
This past year, the Airport Authority also completed their Master Plan 2040 project which will stand as the roadmap for long-term development of infrastructure and facilities to meet the aviation needs of the community over the next 20 years and beyond. Once approved by Transport Canada, the plan will be released to the public and available on the airport’s website.