Derrick Stanford, president and CEO of the Saint John Airport, speaks at the airport's annual general meeting on May 15, 2019. (Brad Perry/CHSJ News)
Growth is soaring at the Saint John Airport, according to its president and CEO.
Derrick Stanford spoke at the airport’s annual general meeting on Wednesday.
The airport set an all-time traffic record in 2018 with 282,217 passengers — an increase of seven per cent.
Stanford said increasing capacity is key as they hope to top 500,000 passengers a year by 2025.
“We’d like to work with our existing partners — Air Canada and Porter and Sunwing — to have more seats to sell for this year and invite new carriers like WestJet or some of the new ultra low-cost carriers that are emerging into the marketplace,” said Stanford.
Stanford says trying to find new routes and new airline carriers is one of the airport’s top priorities. After adding Porter Airlines, the average fares fell by 15-20%.
— Brad Perry (@BradMPerry) May 15, 2019
Stanford said getting more locals to use the airport will also be crucial in helping to grow passenger traffic. He said only 47 per cent of Saint John area air travellers used the airport when he first took the job.
“I’m happy to report that’s up around 53 or 54 per cent now,” Stanford said. “Still a long way to go to making it the dominant choice for all Saint John air travellers.”
Stanford said the airport aims to have a direct flight to the United States by 2020 and a transatlantic flight to Europe by 2025.
Larry Hachey, chair of the airport’s board of directors, said they believe they are “very close” to having a U.S. flight and the city they are most likely looking at is Boston.
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