HALIFAX, N.S. — Post-pandemic air travel continued to recover at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport in 2023 as total passenger travel numbers eclipsed the previous year’s figures by more than 15 per cent.
A total of 3,579,293 million travellers passed through the region's largest airport last year, just shy of half a million more than the 3.1 million who took off or landed in 2022. That’s still below the nearly 4.2 million who used the airport in 2019, before COVID-19 delivered a massive blow to the industry.
People travelling within Canada accounted for the bulk of traffic, with 3,063,375 passengers, a 10.2 per cent increase over the previous year but 10.3 per cent off 2019 when 3,524,167 went through Stanfield International.
Related stories
The Halifax International Airport Authority highlighted Porter Airlines’ expanded capacity on new E195 jets offering non-stop service to Toronto Pearson as a kickstart to a busy year of domestic flights.
“Overall, our airline partners reported significantly higher load factors across all sectors than in previous years, with the demand outpacing the supply of capacity during peak travel periods,” stated Marie Manning, vice-president of business development and chief commercial officer.
Neighbourly visits
While well short of the 361,348 United States-bound and inbound flyers in 2019, travel south of the border more than doubled to 197,551 in 2023, from 79,299 the previous year.
Air Canada offered year-round non-stop flights to Newark and Boston, but American Airlines was the only U.S.-based airline flying in and out of Stanfield, offering daily flights to Philadelphia and weekly flights to Boston and Washington, D.C.
They won’t be alone for long as both Delta Airlines and United Airlines are coming back this summer.
Delta will have a twice-daily, non-stop flight to New York LaGuardia Airport and United Airlines is returning with twice-daily service to Newark Liberty International starting in May.
American Airlines will also offer daily service to LaGuardia and to Washington during August and September
The HIAA said the added services to the New York region result in six daily flights during the peak summer season.
Small world after all
The 314,367 international travellers last year, meanwhile, surpassed even pre-pandemic travel (302,928), despite the temporary suspension of some non-stop European routes in 2023.
The HIAA points to Air Canada’s continued year-round direct connectivity with London Heathrow, Condor and Discover Airlines’ return with non-stop services to Germany and Air Transat’s December sun flight start date as comeback factors.
The sector is positioned to grow again in 2024 with a bevy of new and expanded flight offerings,
including Icelandair’s non-stop seasonal service to Reykjavik and WestJet’s non-stop flights to London Gatwick Airport in England, Dublin Airport in Ireland and Edinburgh Airport in Scotland.
Condor and Discover’s Frankfurt flight returns to the skies with up to nine weekly flights in and out this summer.
