Sault airport traffic slowly recovers from pandemic
While improving, air traffic in the Sault is currently at three-quarters of pre-COVID-19 pandemic numbers.
At its lowest point during COVID-19, traffic was just four per cent of normal levels. The recovery, while slow, is faster than expected, airport officials said Friday.
"The passenger levels are actually trending a little better than we anticipated," said Sault Ste. Marie Airport CEO. Terry Bos.
Bos said the bounce-back needs to continue, since federal funding to keep the airport afloat has come and gone and it's now relying on regular traffic for revenues.
"We used to be somewhere in the range of between 16,000 and 20,000 a month, depending on the month," he said.
"So we were about 210,000-215,000 in a year. Currently we're still shy of 14,000 in the last month. So like I said, there's still a long ways to go, but it's certainly a promising trend."
A return of post-secondary students will help traffic keep trending upward.
"We anticipate that Sault College and Algoma University are going to be back to full capacity in class," Bos said.
"So we always get a nice bump from the international students and the out-of-town students that fly in and out. So August, September, October are normally really good months."
There is also a need for major airline's to restore regular service.
Pre-pandemic, there were about four more Air Canada flights and one more Porter flight per day than there are now.
Airport officials expect a return of Sunwing Airlines this winter will further help the recovery.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.