Passenger tally rises 6.6% to 17.3 million
Number of travellers hits 17.3 million as airport makes itself ‘recession-proof’
Passenger volumes at the Calgary International Airport jumped more than six per cent in 2018, far outpacing the city’s overall economic growth over the past 12 months.
About 17.3 million travellers visited the airport in 2018, roughly one million more than in 2017. The 6.6-per-cent, year-over-year increase represents the fastest period of growth YYC has seen since 2014, when Alberta’s economy was booming.
However, 2018’s growth occurred during a period when Alberta’s economy expanded by just 2.4 per cent, according to RBC Economics, and Calgary’s unemployment rate remained stubbornly high (7.9 per cent in December).
Bob Sartor, CEO of the Calgary Airport Authority, credited the growth in traffic to ongoing efforts to make YYC a hub for connecting flights. Approximately 37 per cent of the passengers who passed through the Calgary International Airport in 2018 were on their way to another destination.
“As a percentage of our total volume, we’re the busiest connecting airport in Canada,” Sartor said. “What that means is while the city might be having a hard time, people are still flying from Regina to Palm Springs or flying from Portland to Tokyo ... To a certain extent, we have recession-proofed our airport.”
A new $2-billion international terminal, which opened in October 2016, has enabled airlines to route more connecting flights through Calgary, Sartor added. The terminal features a number of new technologies and processes aimed at streamlining connections — including enhanced procedures at customs and security, as well as the ability for passengers to transit through the airport to other destinations without picking up their bags or having to be re-screened.
A state-of-the-art runway — which opened in 2014 — opened more landing slots at YYC, Sartor added.
“We have been trying to make it very attractive for carriers to bring planes here,” Sartor said. “Connectivity is key to a city like ours.”
The airport authority says cargo operations grew last year, too, with 75 per cent of Alberta’s air cargo being processed through Calgary’s airport.
YYC is expecting another increase in traffic, in the range of one million additional passengers, in 2019. Up to half of that will be the direct result of WestJet’s Boeing 787 aircraft and Calgary hangar opening as the airline’s Dreamliner base. The airline will be launching direct flights to London (Gatwick airport), Paris and Dublin in 2019 with its Dreamliners, and also plans to launch a non-stop 737 flight from Calgary to Atlanta in March, as well as Austin and Portland routes in the spring.
Air Canada now includes direct flights to Palm Springs, Calif., while Aeromexico plans to return to YYC in May with seasonal service four times weekly to Mexico City.
“We are in a category where, in a few years, we will be considered a large North American airport,” Sartor said.