Stall, reverse of pandemic recovery 'concerning': Airport president

Passenger numbers are still down 26% from pre-pandemic levels in July 2019 and slightly worse than they were last summer

20210705-Sault Ste. Marie Airport summer stock-DT-04

Sault Ste. Marie Airport. Darren Taylor/SooToday

NEWS RELEASE
SAULT STE. MARIE AIRPORT DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
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A passenger movement comparison through July 2023 is provided below, in July passenger levels were down 1 per cent from last July, this is the first year-over-year decline in passenger levels since the recovery began in April of 2021.

Passenger levels are down 26 per cent from pre-pandemic July 2019 levels.

Year-to-date passenger levels have increased 13 per cent compared to last year, but remain down 25 per cent from pre-pandemic 2019 levels.

Month	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
January	16,309	15,185	1,619	4,937	11,739
February	15,369	15,725	1,100	5,397	12,718
March	18,550	9,531	1,479	7,678	14,546
April	16,842	63	1,334	9,000	12,280
May	17,364	69	1,616	11,378	13,016
June	17,331	440	2,253	12,481	13,500
July	18,800	2,112	4,250	13,976	13,891
August	20,812	3,170	6,114	15,615
September	16,900	2,798	6,551	13,986
October	18,697	2,744	8,593	13,939
November	16,045	2,213	7,155	10,873
December	18,258	2,718	9,283	12,641
Total	211,277	56,768	51,347	131,901	77,799

The current number of flights provided is as follows:

Air Canada Express: three flights daily
Bearskin Airlines: three flights Sunday; four flights daily Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday; and six flights on Wednesday
Porter: two daily flights Sunday to Friday; and one daily on Saturday.

Terry Bos, President and CEO of the SSMADC noted, “It is concerning to see the recovery not only stall but move into reverse in July. This only serves to reinforce that the recovery is going to be a long one and that regional markets are not seeing the same recovery of the large hub airports.”

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