St. John's airport looks to build on 'positives' from 2022 travel numbers

St. John's International Airport staff are feeling optimistic about the future after a year that saw passenger numbers rebound since enduring pandemic travel restrictions and the loss of some flight routes.

Lisa Bragg, the airport'sdirector of business development and marketing, saidWednesday she's waiting on the passenger totals for December but expects theyear tofinishwithabout 73 per cent of the passengertotals of pre-pandemic years.

That's even with the arrival of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in the first quarterof 2022.

"That very much affected our final numbers for the year, but there's a lot of positives from2022," said Bragg.

"We welcomed two new airlines. We welcomed Swoop with a route to Hamilton and Lynx Air with a route to Toronto Pearson and we saw a lot of growth and recovery from a number of our other tenant airlines."

For 2023, Bragg said Newfoundland and Labrador's busiest airport is working closely with airlines to bring back routes that were lost shortly before or duringthe pandemic.

She also said St. John's International is working to bring in additional airlines, although those deals haven't been finalized.

But there's still a bit of a climb ahead before the airport fully rebounds to pre-pandemic passenger levels.Bragg said it's hard to say how long it will take before the airport fully recovers.

"The gap betweenpre-pandemic and current [levels] is going to take a while to recover from, and I think we need some time in 2023 to see what fleshes out," she said.

"Between the stability of an airline like PAL and the continuity of Air Canada and some of our legacy carriers, they're definitely holding things where we want."

The rebuild and expansion

Airlines, too, are rebuilding after a tough couple of years under the pandemic.

Bragg said Air Canada is struggling to findpilots, and it will "take time" to reinstate directroutes from St. John's to Europe.

"They're building things back in steps and their step process is to do so in larger hubs first," said Bragg.

"We're not quite there yet. YYT is going to take a little longer, but that doesn't mean that we're not actively trying and reminding them that we are ready."

St. John's Internationalhas the second-highest airport improvement fee in the country, at $42.Improvement fees arebuilt in to the price of airline ticketsfor departing passengers, and the revenue isused to improveinfrastructure.

Bragg said the fee hasn't impeded business with airlines, pointing to pre-pandemic passenger traffic exceedingthe national average. The facility couldn't meet passenger demand, she said.

The airport expanded in 2018 and Bragg said she hopes the west end expansion will continue when the time is right. The new expansion will include more parking along withtaxi and rental car infrastructure.

But next weekSt. John's is losing its WestJet route to Halifax.

"That's a key route we're talking to all available airlines about, because we want them to know that the opportunity exists for more capacity," said Bragg.

"It's hard. Your options are different. If you happen to have a delay, your options to get rebooked are not as ample."

Asked about problems with transportation after passengers land, Bragg said the airport authority is "quite pleased" with its taxi partner but said "nothing is perfect."

Taxi companies aren't immune to the labour shortage, she said, which caused delays for arriving passengers needing a ride. But she said taxi availability has now returned to a level that "matches passenger traffic."

"We have a dispatcher back at the airport now, which really kind of helps the flow," she said.

"It's something that we're never going to take our eye off of and we have a great relationship with the taxi provider."

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