Passenger numbers up at Comox Valley Airport
New airport CEO Shirley de Silva released the airport's January passenger numbers on Monday, revealing a 12 per cent rise when compared to January 2009, from 19,300 passengers to 21,700.
de Silva attributed the uptick to increased business confidence in the economy, the popularity of winter flights to Mexico and some good prices on seat sales.
"Most airports have seen a good recovery but ours is particularly strong," she said. "Last year we started our rebound faster than most airports and our January figures are a very encouraging and pleasing continuation of that trend."
The airline industry was caught smack dab in the middle of the recession last January. Current passenger numbers are still eight per cent below the January 2008 figure.
While much of the 2009 decline has now come back, the growth here is nowhere near as strong as it is at the airport 90 minutes away in Nanaimo. There, passenger numbers have increased by 58 per cent, from 6,700 in January 2009 to 10,600 in January 2010.
When asked whether she was concerned about the Nanaimo numbers, de Silva said she had not yet seen them.
"Right now all I can say is our passenger numbers are up," she said. "I'm not comparing our numbers to numbers in Nanaimo, I'm only comparing them to our numbers over last year."
But Nanaimo Airport CEO Mike Hooper is comparing them, and he likes what he sees.
"It's a good news story, we're tickled," said Hooper. "I think we're going to see a good year for travel in the Nanaimo region."
That Nanaimo Airport recently completed the first phase of their expansion, which included extending the runway and putting in a new lighting system as well as instrument landing system.
"We've become way more reliable," said Hooper. "We can now offer reliable service in the winter months."
The airport has also recently added a new air carrier, Island Express, which offers weekday flights in the morning and evening to Abbotsford and Victoria.
Air Canada Jazz also flies to Vancouver out of Nanaimo, with six flights every day except Sunday, when there are five.
"Air Canada Jazz has offered more flights than they had previously," said Hooper.
Air Canada did offer a Jazz flight from Comox to Calgary starting late in 2006, but the flight was cancelled two years later. The reason given for the cancellation was the high cost of fuel.
In Victoria, the airport numbers are almost unchanged year-over-year. However, Victoria has seen an increase in out-of-country and charter flights and a corresponding drop of about 6,000 passengers flying domestically. Some of those domestic passengers may have switched to Nanaimo. In Campbell River, passenger numbers increased by just six per cent.
de Silva compared the local airport numbers to Kamloops and Kelowna, which are also primarily served by WestJet. There, numbers were similarly up, with 10 per cent increases.
