TRAFFIC INCREASES CONTINUE AT DEER LAKE REGIONAL AIRPORT

April 21, 2005

Traffic levels continue to increase at the Deer Lake Regional Airport. The first quarter statistics for 2005 indicate that passenger traffic grew by 13% over the same period in 2004. A total of 45,713 passengers traveled through the airport facilities this year to date as compared to 40,445 from January – March, 2004.

Each of the three respective months in the first quarter experienced an increase in passenger movements. Statistics recorded for January of 12,916 passengers represented a 6.3% increase while February numbers of 14,723 represented a 13.7% increase, and March reported the largest monthly increase of 17.7% with 18,074 passenger movements.

Carl Stratton, Chairman of the Deer Lake Regional Airport Authority, indicated the continued growth demonstrates the need for expanded facilities. “The growth that we have experienced in the past few years clearly supports our recent announcement to expand and enhance the Air Terminal Building to better serve our growing customer base,” said Stratton. “We are responding to the increasing market demand and plans are well underway to begin construction in the next few months with a completion date scheduled for early 2007,” added Stratton.

The Airport Manager, Jamie Schwartz, indicated the Airport is poised for continued growth. “We have projected increased traffic during the next 5 years as a result of the development of Humber Valley Resort and increased tourism activity in general,” said Schwartz. “This summer has the potential to be one of the busiest seasons ever due to increased capacity and new services by several airlines,” added Schwartz.

The Deer Lake Regional Airport now serves Western Newfoundland with twenty-five regularly scheduled passenger flights each day to destinations including St. John’s, Goose Bay, Wabush, Gander and Halifax with connections worldwide. A total of four different airlines; Air Canada Jazz, Air Labrador, CanJet Airlines and Provincial Airlines, now offer a regular service to and from Deer Lake.