Skip to content

Record number of passengers travel through Sault airport

The Sault Ste. Marie Airport saw a record number of passengers travel in 2014, increasing 4.4 percent from the 2013 level to reach the new record level of 195,080 passengers. This historical record since the Sault Ste. Marie Airport Development Corp.
sault_airport_cropped(1)
The Sault Ste. Marie Airport Development Corp. is reporting a record numbers of passengers travelled through the Sault Ste. Marie Airport in 2014. (FILE PHOTO)

The Sault Ste. Marie Airport saw a record number of passengers travel in 2014, increasing 4.4 percent from the 2013 level to reach the new record level of 195,080 passengers.

This historical record since the Sault Ste. Marie Airport Development Corp. ownership began in 1998 is a major increase from the record low of 121,991 in 2010, an improvement of 59.9 percent from that historic low in a short four-year period.

“With the record level achieved in 2014, the SSMADC is anticipating the opportunity to attain its goal of 200,000 passengers per year in 2015, ahead of the schedule for such a goal as laid out in the new Business and Land Use Plan,” Terry Bos, the corporation’s CEO, said in a news release.

The Sault Ste. Marie Airport is home to four airlines that are all contributors to the success of the airport.

Air Canada Express offers daily flights to Toronto Pearson Airport with connections worldwide.

Bearskin Airlines provides flights to Thunder Bay and Sudbury with connections to many locations in Northern Ontario and Manitoba.

Porter Airlines provides daily service to the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport with connections to their route network in Ontario through to eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, along with their new connections through their interline agreement with Jet Blue to locations in the United States and Caribbean.

Sunwing Airlines is the winter destination getaway for Sault and area residents with direct flights to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic on Fridays for the 2015 winter season.

“At the end of the day it is the community of Sault Ste. Marie and area that will determine the success of the airport, the destinations to which the airlines fly, and the airlines that service the Sault,” Bos said. “It is all about the number of people in the seats that determines the level of service.

“The Sault Airport still sees major leakage to other airports, namely in the United States. With the new lower dollar and the lower air fares that have been seen the last few years with airline competition, the 200,000 passenger level — with any luck — is attainable.”