Travel through St. John’s International Airport is on an upward trajectory that’s poised to peak this summer as the city plays host to the Canada Games.
The airport authority held its annual general meeting yesterday, reporting a slight increase in revenue and nearly 10 per cent spike in passenger traffic last year over 2023, with almost 1.4 million people making their way through YYT.
That finally returns the airport to pre-pandemic levels, including staffing.
Airport authority CEO Dennis Hogan says the performance points to a solid path of growth, despite current global challenges, not the least of which are tariffs, as well as travel to and from the U.S.
Hogan notes while many airports face uncertain passenger numbers this summer, YYT is not one of them.
St. John’s is expecting more than 5,000 athletes alone for the games, on top of the mass of coaches, volunteers, family and friends, most of whom will fly in.
Hogan says there will be days where the sheer volume of flights could test the airport’s capacity amid ongoing improvements.
“I think there are actually four days in particular, arrival and departure days, in which we will have much more aircraft here, both commercially scheduled and charter aircraft, than we would typically have,” he said. “I think it will be the most large aircraft we will have on our facility probably since 9/11.”
