Passenger numbers up, flights added at two largest airports in Maritimes

WestJet flights from Moncton, N.B., to Toronto are returning this spring and summer.

The flight will be available twice a week starting May 17, it will increase to three times in June and by the summer peak it will be five times a week.

Good news for fliers and for the staff at the Greater Moncton Roméo LeBlanc International Airport Authority.

“The whole team at YQM was thrilled that WestJet is bringing back the Toronto route because we used to have it before the COVID-19 pandemic,” said authority spokesperson Sheila Lagacé.

Even better news: the passenger numbers for 2023.

The airport reached 89 per cent of the passenger count pre-pandemic in 2019, welcoming 600,121 passengers last year.

“We're well into recovery. That's also a 28 per cent increase over 2022, so we're definitely getting there,” said Sheila Lagacé. “Airline partners adding new flights and new routes for our passengers is tremendously helping us getting us there as well.”

Lagacé said people are flying again and the airport authority is hiring and getting back to the number of employees it had before COVID-19, perhaps even more.

The news is also good at the largest airport in the Maritimes

Halifax Stanfield International Airport welcomed nearly a half million more passengers in 2023 than it did the year before.

The airport served 3,579,293 passengers last year, a 15 per cent increase over 2022.

Airport spokesperson Tiffany Chase said they were very pleased with the number of passengers that came to Halifax Stanfield last year.

“We've had a number of announcements by airlines who are returning or offering new services at Halifax Stanfield this year. We expect to surpass, or get close to, the four million passenger mark for the upcoming year,” said Chase.

In 2023, the airport recovered 85 per cent from pre-pandemic numbers, a far cry from what it was like a few years ago.

“During the pandemic you could hear a pin drop around here. It was very quiet, very little travel happening so it's been great over the past couple of years to see people re-experience their joy for travel,” said Chase.

John Gradek, head of McGill University's aviation management program, thinks Canada’s aviation industry is going through a renaissance and airlines are expanding their services to smaller markets.

“I think we're in a situation now where we're seeing passengers continuing to want to travel by air,” said Gradek. “They've gone beyond flying from Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto to Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. They're now doing regional markets. They're doing Maritime markets. They're back into the Maritimes.”

Porter Airlines recently announced an additional daily flight to Ottawa from Greater Moncton Roméo LeBlanc International Airport that will begin in April.

The airport is also going through infrastructure upgrades on the tarmac and in the main terminal parking lot.