Moncton airport trying to get off the ground with travel restrictions easing

After a turbulent two years due to pandemic-related travel restrictions and economic fallout, the incoming CEO of Greater Moncton’s Roméo LeBlanc International Airport is hopeful interest in flying is taking off again.

“The parking lot’s been full, it’s feeling like an airport again,” Courtney Burns said in an interview on Monday.

Burns currently serves as the airport’s director of finance and administration and will officially take over as CEO and president from Bernard LeBlanc on May 16.

Budget airline Swoop has just opened a new direct flight between Moncton and Hamilton.

Bert Van Der Stege, Swoop’s head of commercial and finance, said the primary reason for bringing this route to Moncton was to cater to Ontarians interested in vacationing in the Maritimes.

“We believe in the potential this city offers from a tourism perspective. So we know how important the tourism economy is to the province of New Brunswick,” he said on Monday.

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He said Swoop is also planning on adding a direct flight from Moncton to Edmonton in mid-June.

Burns said data from March and April shows that ticket sales are on the rise.

“We’re really starting to see the growth and the recovery, people are anxious to travel,” she said.

She believes a lot of the uptake is due to people travelling for business.

“We’re seeing strong demand across the board,” she said.

She said staffing remains an issue, as the airport tries to rebuild its employee base following layoffs at the beginning of the pandemic, as well as employees retiring.

“For example, this morning our Tim Hortons isn’t open yet so you can’t get food or a drink before your flight,” she said, saying the coffee shop was hoping to have enough staff to open by July 3.