The Northwest Regional Airport’s passenger numbers are sky high for the first half of this year, and according to airport manager, Carman Hendry, that number will continue to climb.
At the end of June, the airport saw 14,730 passengers since January, up 24.8 per cent for the same period last year.
Hendry credits most of this growth to the northwest industrial projects that are seeing high volumes of workers travelling to Terrace, often on shift work.
With workers flying into town for the Northwest Transmission Line, Forest Curve Mining Project, Kitimat Modernization Project and LNG, high passenger flow shows no sign of slowing down in the foreseeable future.
“KMP...with the coming peak for construction workers in September, we’re expecting that number to rise until the end of the year,” Hendry surmised.
“Everything’s maintaining these numbers,” he said.
The high numbers put extra pressure on the airport to develop their 20-year master plan. AirBiz, an airport consulting company based out of Australia was hired at the end of June to help design the plan and vision.
AirBiz has until January 2014 to present their report, but Hendry already knows some of the areas that will need to be addressed.
Areas such as baggage screening will need to double in size, and the passenger holding room will need to be expanded to accommodate more than 120 passengers it currently holds.
Additionally, Hendry hopes to see better logistical control on the apron, with potentially a new layout of the tarmac to avoid congestion with increased plane traffic.