Hamilton airport getting closer to long-promised goal of 1M passengers

Passenger traffic at Hamilton's airport has more than doubled in the past two years.

The John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport reached 725,630 passengers in 2018 compared to 333,368 two years earlier, the airport said in a media release.

The jump moves it a bit step closer to a long-promised target of a million passengers a year — a target it has reached only once before.

The 2018 number is also a 21 per cent increase in passenger traffic compared to 2017.

The numbers are welcome news for an airport that's struggled to consistently draw more flyers out of Hamilton. The airport credits discount airlines such as Swoop, as well as seasonal carriers like Air Transat and Sunwing, for the turnaround.

It's also added a third rental car company, an agreement with Lyft and a Best Buy kiosk to draw people.

"The airport has seen a tremendous amount of growth as passengers continue to choose Hamilton as their airport of choice for convenient, low-cost travel," said president Cathie Puckering in a statement.

The new passenger numbers are inching closer to the 23-year-old promise of a million passengers a year.

That's what TradePort pledged when it took over operation of the airport in 1996, saying it would reach the goal by 2010.

It did reach it, for a year in 2003, when passenger totals reached 1,041,204.

They were at more than 800,000 in 2002.

But passenger numbers have varied greatly over that time. From 2009 to 2014, passenger traffic dropped by more than 100,000, falling to 332,378 in 2014. 

Chad Collins, Ward 5 councillor, says these new numbers are at least trending in the right direction. But TradePort's million-passenger promise was a main reason the city chose the consortium. 

"We're the landlord and they're the tenant," he said. "When they won the contract they made certain promises. And that was a big one."

The numbers "are good news in terms of where it's going," he said. "But they're nowhere where we need to be as it relates to being an economically competitive airport as it relates to passenger numbers."

TradePort, in its annual reports to council, says it's doing its best in a changing industry. In 2015, it built a new $12-million cargo terminal with CargoJet as an anchor tenant.

The airport is still Canada's largest overnight express cargo airport, and that market has grown too. In 2018, cargo volume at the airport increased five per cent over 2017, and 20 per cent over 2016.

Swoop, which launched in June, is adding more domestic flights, the airport says. It's also offering year-round U.S. and international service.

Starting in March, Norwegian will also offer daily direct flights from Hamilton to Dublin.