The Saint John Airport continues to see passenger growth after major drops during the pandemic.
Around 180,000 passengers flew through YSJ in 2024, according to a spokesperson for the airport.
Lori Carle, the manager of marketing, public and corporate relations, said that was up from 175,000 in 2023.
“It was less than we projected, but there were airline schedule adjustments that happened that are out of our control,” Carle told our newsroom.
The airport had been projecting around 189,000 passengers last year, according to figures contained in its 2023 annual report.
However, YSJ has seen continued growth since the pandemic, which saw passenger numbers drop from 281,000 in 2019 down to as low as 55,800 in 2021.
Carle said there were a couple of reasons for the growth the airport saw in 2024, which included Flair Airlines adding a direct winter route between Saint John and Orlando Sanford.
“One good thing about Flair is they’ve opened air travel to people that perhaps have never flown before, which I think is an incredible experience for people to have the opportunity to do that, but also for most of us who’ve been hit hard by the cost of living increases that we’ve dealt with since the pandemic,” she said.
Saint John also welcomed a new airline with Pascan Aviation launching regional service between Halifax, Sydney and downtown Montréal.
Carle said they have continued to see incremental growth since the airline first landed at YSJ in early September.
“A lot of people during the pandemic got used to Teams calls and not seeing people face-to-face, but people are starting to recognize how important it is for business travel to be able to meet up with other business connections in say Halifax or Montreal,” she added.
While Pascan initially offered twice-daily weekday service between Saint John and Halifax, it was later scaled back to once per day until demand picks up.
Carle said one of the advantages of having a smaller airline like Pascan is they are able to be more nimble with their schedules.
“I really do believe that we’re on the right trajectory to grow with the addition of Pascan and what they’re doing,” she added.
