A slow start to the year for Kamloops Airport with just 9,190 passengers in the first three months of 2021.
That is compared to 91,638 passengers during the same three months last year, though there were no COVID-19 travel restrictions in January and February of 2020. By comparison, there were 2,128 passengers this past March, down 89.8 per cent from the 21,123 passengers last year.
“What we are seeing now is a true reflection of the impacts of COVID compared to this time last year when numbers were just starting to fall,” Airport Managing Director, Ed Ratuski told NL News. “This is the reality we’re in right now with so few passengers travelling through the airport right now, and essential travellers only at this point.”
“Numbers have been stable since that last round of travel restrictions that came into effect at the end of 2020. We were sitting right at about 2,500 passengers a month, largely just because it is essential travellers.”
In all of 2020, there were just 123,675 people who passed through the terminal at Kamloops Airport compared to a record 361,586 back in 2019.
Ratuski says while there are signs of optimism in the months ahead, passenger volumes will likely remain low as long as travel restrictions are in place.
“Federal support for airlines will help to re-establish suspended routes and introduce new destinations to support an expected surge in demand for domestic leisure travel once it is safe to do so,” Ratuski added.
Last month, the BC Government also announced $720,000 in COVID relief funding for Kamloops Airport to help pay for things like operating and maintenance costs, payroll, rent, and other overhead costs until the end of March 2022.
Kamloops Airport has and will remain open during the pandemic for essential travel and cargo as well as medivac flights and wildfire planes.
Ratuski is asking any passengers to follow all of the physical distancing and other public health measures that are in place.