PASSENGER traffic for the first two months of this year at Northwest Regional Airport has topped totals for January and February of 2010.
Up to the end of February 15,189 passenger movements were recorded, 937 more passengers than the equivalent period for 2010.
But airport manager Carman Hendry did note that February 2010’s low count of 6,173 reflected decisions by people to stay away from Vancouver because of the Olympics.
Still, he’s happy with this February’s total of 7,635. “We’re just .2 per cent behind last year’s total for the end of February,” he said. This January’s total of 7,554 was a particular drag on the numbers when compared to the 8,079 from the same month in 2010.
Hendry’s predicting an annual count exceeding 106,000 by the end of this month which marks the end of the airport’s fiscal year. He’s budgeting for 110,000 passengers for the next fiscal year.
Hendry did note that February’s total would have been higher had it not been for extremely bad weather which canceled 10 flights and for three missed flights for other reasons. Those 13 flights combined with eight missed because of weather in January and three for other reasons in January are the highest monthly totals in at least six years.
“I think we’re going to do much better in March,” said Hendry.
The airport continues to promote itself as a reliable facility, building on the installation of an instrument landing system in the early part of the last decade.
Hendry said emphasizing the airport’s much improved reliability is top of mind. It recently brought in a film crew to record testimonials from local businesses.
“We’re trying to show the industry community exactly how reliable we are,” said Hendry. The testimonials will be shown at trade shows and at the airport itself.
