The Prince George Airport Authority didn’t match their number of passengers they had in 2015, but they still exceeded their own expectations.
YXS accommodated 462,007 passengers flying in and out of the city, earning their second-highest attendance in the seven years.
Another successful year at #YXS as 462,007 passengers travelled through our airport in 2016. More info: https://t.co/hvDXLITV6n #cityofpg pic.twitter.com/0eoAkEGnjv
— YXS – PG Airport (@FlyYXS) January 18, 2017
“We’re really happy with the results,” says President and CEO John Gibson.
“The traffic is up compared to what are expectation was. We were expecting about 455,000 passengers, and we beat that.”
2016’s total beat out 2014’s passenger count of 445,929 by 3.5%.
With the exception of the 2015 Canada Winter Games, which brought in 15,000 people through the airport, Gibson says business has been flying at a steady pace.
“It appeared with 1.5% increase over those non-Canada Winter Games numbers that business travel was up, leisure was up, and we had lots of tourist and convention programs this year.”
Looking ahead to this year, he believes in order to match 2016, more programs and events need to be put in place.
“Unless we have some big economic development announcements in the North, we’re going to be pretty conservative this year. We do not see any growth particularly.”
Gibson says the additional West-Jet and Air Canada flights to and from Vancouver have become convenient for local residents, allowing them to be connected on an international level.
The PGAA also spent $2 million in improving their facilities, including the replacement of runway lighting and upgrading their security systems.
An additional highlight form 2016 included the introduction of the Amelia Bearheart, the PG Airport mascot.
#YXSAmelia is loving the #Canada150 branding. Have you checked it out yet? #cityofpg pic.twitter.com/g0ytctiTWF
— YXS – PG Airport (@FlyYXS) January 10, 2017