The YYC Calgary International Airport continues to report increased passenger volumes despite slower economic times. The Calgary Airport Authority said 16.3 million passengers went through YYC in 2017, an increase of 3.8 per cent over the previous year.
In his annual report to Calgary city council Monday, airport authority president Bob Sartor also said the airport is the busiest in Canada when it comes to connecting flights based on a percentage of seats per capita.
“Calgarians have more choices of more times from more flights per capita than the average other city. What it means is operational flexibility for businesses and great flexibility for people who want to travel personally.”
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Sartor told council a lot of the credit for the increased traffic at the airport is because of the new international terminal.
“The new terminal really relieved an extremely congested situation and opening that new terminal allowed the air carriers to basically land more seats and depart more seats from Calgary,” he said. “Today we are a key hub: we have 80 non-stop destinations currently.”
Pressed by members of council about whether transit service should be stepped up, Sartor said talk of bringing in the LRT is not in the short-term plan and funding from the airport authority is out of the question at this time.
“What we are looking at from a short- and medium-term perspective is getting more regional bus service into the airport. Needless to say, light high speed rail is extremely expensive.”
Following his presentation to council, Sartor told reporters that development of airport land could start creating an employment node that is separate and distinct from downtown, which would have a critical mass that could justify transit.
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