Charlottetown Airport is reporting a 12 per cent increase in passenger traffic in 2016 over 2015. And the 354,234 passenger movements in 2016 set a new, all-time passenger traffic record. The previous record was 317,827 in 2014.
“We are very pleased to see these results,” says Doug Newson, CEO of Charlottetown Airport Authority. “It’s the first time in the airport’s history that we’ve surpassed 350,000 passengers in a year. It demonstrates to our air carrier partners that when new air service and capacity is added out of Charlottetown, both Islanders and visitors will support it.”
Newson says that increased service to Toronto in 2016 by both Air Canada rouge™ and WestJet was very popular and contributed to the record passenger numbers. In addition, Air Canada extended the popular summer flight from Ottawa to operate for six months last year.
Over the past 10 years, passenger traffic at the Charlottetown Airport has grown by 57%. Global and domestic travel continues to rise and with the celebration of Canada’s 150th anniversary of Confederation taking place this year, expectations are that these numbers will continue to rise over the coming months.
This winter season, WestJet returned with direct flights from Charlottetown to Orlando, Florida running from December 16, 2016 to May 12, 2017.Sunwing also returns with a seasonal weekly service to Varadero, Cuba departing Charlottetown on Wednesdays from February 15 to May 10, 2017.