Passenger levels through the Sault Ste. Marie Airport continue to trend upward in the first four months of 2022.
The independently-operated authority reported 9,000 travellers moved through the terminal in April, following up on the 7,678 passengers recorded in March, 5,397 in February and 4,937 in January.
But the facility's development corporation said last month's volume is more than 46 per cent off the pre-pandemic pace of 2019 when the airport handled 16,842 travellers that particular month.
An airport news release this week said air carriers have started to increase capacity this month to meet the demands of travellers.
“A recovery trend seems to be taking hold since the easing of restrictions for international travel and the easing of lockdown restrictions provincially,” said Terry Bos, president-CEO of the Sault Ste. Marie Airport Development Corporation in a statement. “There is still a long way to go to recover to pre-pandemic levels, but signs the past two or three months are encouraging.”
In the first year of the pandemic in April 2020, only 63 passengers boarded flights. In April 2021, that figure improved slightly to 1,334.
The airport is serviced by Air Canada Express, Bearskin Airlines and Porter.