PEI

Charlottetown Airport records 'best month' ever in August

As P.E.I. celebrated its best tourism season ever, Charlottetown Airport logged a record-breaking 52,000 passengers in August.

'We are certainly pleased to see double-digit growth'

The launch of Air Canada Rouge in Charlottetown "has been a tremendous success," says airport authority CEO Doug Newson. (Nancy Russell/CBC)

As P.E.I. celebrated its best tourism season ever, Charlottetown Airport logged a record-breaking 52,000 passengers in August.

Charlottetown's airport clocked a 10 per cent increase in passengers between June and September this year over the same time period in 2015, the Charlottetown Airport Authority said Tuesday in a written release.

The increase "bodes well" for next year says Doug Newson, the airport authority's CEO. (Charlottetown Airport Authority. )

Those numbers show the "best month" for traffic ever recorded by the Charlottetown Airport Authority.

"We are certainly pleased to see double-digit growth," said Doug Newson, CEO of the Airport Authority.

"The increased capacity we have seen this year, especially over the summer months with the launch of Air Canada Rouge in our market, has been a tremendous success."

Year-to-date, airport traffic is up 14 per cent to the end of September compared to the same period in 2015, according to the release.

2017 expected to be good

Newson predicts 2017 will also be a good year — the more passengers that use the airport, the more attractive it looks to airlines.

"Our airline partners are planning now for summer 2017 and these results announced today certainly bode well for potential future increases in seat capacity."

This winter, WestJet will resume direct flights from Charlottetown to Orlando, Fla., from Dec. 12 to May 12. Sunwing Vacations will fly non-stop to Varadero, Cuba, starting Feb. 15 and runs for 12 weeks

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sara Fraser

Web Journalist

Sara has worked with CBC News in P.E.I. since 1988, starting with television and radio before moving to the digital news team. She grew up on the Island and has a journalism degree from the University of King's College in Halifax. Reach her by email at sara.fraser@cbc.ca.