The Greater Sudbury Airport is holding steady by maintaining their 2023 passenger count of approximately 130,000 last year.
That said, Greater Sudbury Airport Authority CEO Giovanna Verrilli told Sudbury.com that this year’s introduction of direct flights to Calgary should boost numbers in subsequent reports.
“We have been very happy with the performance of the new route,” she said. “People are flying and we are seeing people not just depart, but westerners coming into Sudbury as well.”
Uptake on these new flights, which commenced on June 12, have “exceeded everyone’s expectations,” she said, later clarifying that their initial plan anticipated an additional 5,000 to 6,000 passengers as a result of these flights.
Although the twice-weekly Calgary flights in a 134-passenger Boeing 737-700 aircraft are slated to end in October, Verrelli said that she’s pushing for both a timeline extension and increased frequency.
“But any new route requires a testing period,” she said. “That is critical for Westjet to ensure this is critical before they consider that expansion.”
Sudbury.com connected with Verrilli following the June 24 Sudbury Airport Community Development Corporation annual general meeting at Tom Davies Square, at which the latest batch of audited financial statements were released.
Although in the fiscal black for the year, the airport remains well shy of the 245,722 passengers recorded in the pre-pandemic year of 2019.
The airport recorded an operating surplus of $348,000 for the year, which is an improvement on the $58,000 deficit reported in 2023.
From a bookkeeping perspective, which factors in a broader viewpoint by including such things as property depreciation, the airport’s 2024 surplus was $1.04 million. This figure includes the sale of a hangar for the new Ornge air ambulance superbase, which formally opened on June 23 following months of the crew easing into their new space. If not for this sale, the airport would have recorded a deficit.
“The regional airport market in Canada is struggling across the board, but that can’t stop us from focusing on what's important to the community,” Verrelli said.
In addition to working on diversifying revenue streams through such things as leases and partnerships, she said airport staff are striving to improve the passenger experience within the realm of their control, since they can’t control the performance of airlines themselves.
In recent months, they’ve made improvements to their hold room, parking system, and are in the process of adding a second baggage screening system to the airport.
The hold room — a secure area where passengers sit to wait for their aircraft — was expanded, with new seating and charging stations added alongside offering free coffee and vending machine access.
Until last year, the parking system was “very archaic,” Verrelli said, noting that there was no option to pay upon exit, meaning that if someone forgot to pay they’d have to get out of their car and walk back into the airport terminal to pay for parking before leaving.
Now, passengers can pay upon exit, which Verrelli said “makes the experience smoother for passengers.”
Although their singular baggage screening system has served its purpose, she said it doesn’t work from a contingency perspective.
“If the system is down, we have major issues with the passenger flow and screening their bags,” she said.
The second baggage screening system, which is arriving this week, will both add a contingency, speed up processing and allow the airport room for growth, which Verrelli said remains their ultimate goal.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
