Kelowna airport on track to set new passenger record

I know we're only half way through the year.

But new passenger count numbers are in from Kelowna International Airport and they point toward a record-breaking 2024.

But, with six months still to go there are potential obstacles and potential boosts that could see the airport fall short or rise above.

So, let's get the the data.

Newly released figures from the airport shows that 1,031,381 passengers caught flights and disembarked from flights in the first six months of this year.

That's a 3.2% bump from the 999,527 passengers January through June in 2023.

That's a solid good news story that shows the airport is more than fully recovered from the pandemic.

The first six months of 2020 saw only 481,155 passengers use the airport.

The mid-year count of more than a million also points to consumer confidence and that Kelowna airport is a regional hub that attracts passengers from throughout the Southern Interior for the flights that they need and want.

It also makes Kelowna airport the 9th or 10th busiest airport in the country, serving more passengers than airports in cities with bigger populations such as Victoria, Hamilton, London, Ontario, Quebec City, Saskatoon and Regina.

In all, Kelowna has non-stop flights to 21 destinations ranging from short hops to Vancouver, Seattle, Victoria, Nanaimo, Comox, Prince George, Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Saskatoon and Winnipeg to farther east domestically to Kitchener, Toronto and Montreal, plus US sunspots Phoenix and Las Vegas and Mexican vacation hotspots Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos and Mazatlan.

The tease part of this equation comes when speculating if Kelowna airport will set a new passenger record this year.

Simply double the first six-month count from this year of 1,031,381 and you get 2,062,762.

That barely beats the standing record from 2018 of 2,059,030.

Again, good news.

"We have good tracking to beat 2023 (which was 2,032,624) and we're expecting to be close or surpass the record of 2018," said Kelowna airport CEO Sam Samaddar.

But, it may not be that simple, according to Samaddar.

"August is usually a peak month for the airport, but it will be interesting to see if tourists still come here at the same rate because people are increasingly talking of August being the month for wildfires and smoke in Kelowna," he said.

"Thankfully, we've been fire-and-smoke free this summer."

There can also be other unexpected blips.

For instance, the WestJet mechanics strike June 29-30, while brief, saw enough flights cancelled to push Kelowna's passenger count down by 3.25% to 171,321 from 177,067 in June 2023.

Air Canada and its pilots haven't secured a contract deal, so hopefully that situation doesn't turn contentious and lead to job action.

Samaddar also reminded us that in 2019 Kelowna airport was all set to break the 2018 record when the new 737 Max jet was grounded because of safety concerns, which led to flight cancellations and reduced capacity for months.

Yet, overall, the airport CEO is optimistic about the rest of 2024 and the chance of setting a new record.

"Hopefully, no wildfires and smoke this summer and we've seen Pacific Coastal (Airlines) add Comox and Prince George as destinations and the winter schedule is looking strong with more Toronto with WestJet, Alaska (Airlines) bringing back Seattle and introducing Los Angeles and WestJet continuing to offer seasonal service to sun destinations (like the aforementioned Phoenix, Las Vegas, Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos and Mazatlan)," he said.