Traffic on the rise at St. John's airport with 'marked increase' since border reopening

There's a lot of movement at St. John's International Airport again, just over a year since the province's highest traffic entry point posted some of its worst numbers to date due to the ongoing pandemic.

In May, the airport authority'sCEO Peter Avery wrote in a report thatpassenger traffic fell by 75 per cent in 2020, andthat it remainedat a 50-year low.

Now that the province has lifted its restrictions on non-essential travel, allowing people in for vacations andreunions without having to request a special exemption, Avery said things are vastly different.

"It actually starts to look and feel like an airport again when we so many friends home visiting and family. Soit's an encouraging sign," Avery told CBC Radio's St. John's Morning Show.

The first flights landed in St. John's under eased restrictions July 2 when the province reopened to the rest of Canada for the first time in over a year.

Avery called the uptick in traffic "like night and day."

He said numbers were down about 87 per cent in Junecompared with the same month 2019. In July, Avery said, the numbers were down 70 per cent compared with July 2019.

"So it's a marked increase for sure," he said.

"I think it's gone very well. People are accustomed, now, to having to go through the process when they travel. There's always kinks asthings change, but overall we've managed well."

Prepared for international visitors

Earlier in August, Canada opened its borders to fully vaccinated Americans,but Avery said he hasn't witnessed much of an increase there yet.

The majority of travellers are from within Canada, he said, as people reunite with friends and family. St. John's International Airport still isn't designated to receive international flights, so anybody from outside the country will be coming through the country's larger travel hubs.

"But we are prepared for those folks to come in domestically, at least through other Canadian airports," he said.

He said it's up to the federal government to decide regulations and protocols for screening those passengers, and St. John's International Airport doesn't have that screening capacity yet.

"We'll just continue to take direction on with what's happening with international travellers once they arrive at our airport once they're allowed," he said.

"We still have all of our existing protocols in place. We have international accreditation for health protocols and cleaning that we were certified for last year."

Another layer of protection includes keeping the mask mandate. While Newfoundland and Labradorlifted its provincialmask mandate on Tuesday, Avery noted they are still mandatory in the terminal and on flights.

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