Nearly two per cent fewer passengers passed through the Prince George Airport in 2019, compared to the previous year, according to information released by the Prince George Airport Authority on Wednesday,
The number of people flying in or out of the Prince George Airport dropped to 496,714 in 2019, compared with 506,486 in 2018.
"The regional economy is impacting our passenger activity, however we remain optimistic heading into 2020," airport authority president and CEO Gordon Duke said. "Comparable airports across Canada saw similar decreases in their passenger numbers in 2019 as airlines had to rework their networks to make up for the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max aircraft earlier in the year, which meant aircraft availability was stretched thin to make up for it."
One of the highlights of 2019 was Pacific Coastal Airlines adding a second daily flight to Victoria, along with the addition of Sunday service. Air North also announced weekly scheduled service to Whitehorse, Kelowna and Vancouver.
The airport authority spent $11 million on capital improvements at the airport last year, will be upgrading the public announcement and HVAC systems in the airport terminal, and expanding taxi parking, in 2020.
