The Terrace-Kitimat airport is on its way to exceeding its predicted 110,000 passenger goal this year, with this June breaking the 10,000 passenger mark.
There were 10,404 passengers recorded using the airport this June, which is up from the 9,017 passengers of June 2010 and the highest number of passengers in one month so far this year.
This number also surpasses the 10,251 passengers of August 2010, which was the top passenger month last year.
“For June, we are 1,387 higher this year than last year, which is a 15 per cent increase (for the month),” said airport manager Carman Hendry.
“With a combination of all the other months (in the fiscal year), we are 10 per cent ahead of last year,” he said. “That is very good. The last best year was 2007, and that was a good year.”
That’s the year there were 122,070 passengers recorded in the airport.
So far in 2011 there have been 54,529 passengers using the local airport, and Hendry says if this increase continues, there’s the possibility of hitting 117,000 passengers this year, which is much higher than the 110,000 passengers the airport had anticipated.
“The economics of the region are picking up,” Hendry said. “The exploration that has been happening over the last four years is paying off, the workers are starting to arrive....everybody’s doing well.”