Passenger traffic at Winnipeg airport continues to bounce back from pandemic

Airline passenger traffic iscontinuing to rise at Winnipeg's Richardson International Airport.

The largest airport in Manitoba saw passenger volumes crater in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. New figures released by the Winnipeg Airports Authority show a recovery is underway.

Just over three million people flew in and out of Richardson in 2022, the airports authority said Wednesday. That's2 times what it was2021, when 1.2 million passengers travelled through Winnipeg's airport.

The return of winter holiday travel and direct flights to warm-weather destinationscontributed to the improvement last year, the airports authority said in a statement.

So did the October advent of a new WestJet connection between Winnipeg and Los Angeles, said the WAA, which has not disclosed passenger volumes on the new non-stop flight.

Airline passenger numbers through Winnipegnonetheless remain below pre-pandemic volumes. Approximately 4.5 million people flew in and out of Richardson in 2019.

Last spring, WAA president and CEO Nick Hays said he expects it will take several years before air traffic fully recovers from the pandemic.