| Traffic Increases Continue at Deer Lake Regional Airport
The month of September represents the third consecutive month that the Deer Lake Regional Airport has experienced a record setting level of passenger movements in 2002. Nearly 13,000 passengers arrived and departed at Deer Lake in September, 2002 as compared to only 10,011 in 2001. This represents a 30% increase over the same period last year. The previous record was established in 1998 when 12,039 passenger movements were reported. Due to the unprecedented traffic levels during the past three months, the Deer Lake Regional Airport Authority has experienced a 7% increase in passengers to date over last year. Approximately 115,000 passenger movements were recorded during the first three quarters of 2002. Carl Stratton, Chairman of the D.L.R.A.A., indicated that Deer Lake is breaking the trend reported in other Atlantic Canada airports. “This increase is even more impressive when considering that airports in Atlantic Canada are experiencing an average decline of roughly 9% in passenger traffic over the same period last year, “states Stratton. “We are very pleased to witness such growth despite the impact of September 11, 2001 and the sharp decrease in air travel following those tragic events,” added Stratton. Jamie Schwartz, Airport Manager, suggested that much of the increase is a direct result of greater capacity and reasonable fares. “This clearly demonstrates that passenger travel can be stimulated with lower fares and greater capacity”, said Schwartz. “There is a direct correlation with the number of people traveling and the lower cost of airfares associated with both Provincial Airlines and Air Canada Tango,” added Schwartz. The Deer Lake Regional Airport serves Western Newfoundland with regularly scheduled passenger service to and from locations such as St. John’s, Goose Bay, Halifax, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Wabush with connections worldwide. The Airport is one of a few remaining airports in Canada that does not charge or collect an airport improvement fee or passenger facilitation fee.
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