Air travel down in 2009
By QMI Agency
After seven years of increases, air passenger traffic fell in 2009, according to new figures from Statistics Canada.
About 103 million passengers travelled through Canadian airports in 2009. That represents a 5.4% decrease compared to 2008 and the first time there's been an annual decrease since 2002.
Domestic passenger traffic decreased 7% while travellers moving between Canada and the U.S. fell 6.3%.
International air passenger traffic increased 1%.
The recession, the H1N1 outbreak and several charter operations and foreign carriers ceasing their services at Canadian airports contributed to the reduced traffic, according to StatsCan.
The total number of flights arriving and departing from Canadian airports was down 1.2%.
