Year-In-Review: Courtney Burns On Navigating The Recovery Of The Moncton Airport
To cap off 2022, Huddle sat down with some of the key figures in Atlantic Canada’s business community – folks representing everyone from tourism operators to energy producers to the startup world.
We asked each to reflect on the challenges, successes, and surprises that most impacted their industries and the lives of Atlantic Canadians this year.
In the latest of several conversations we will bring you before the new year, Huddle reporter Sam Macdonald sat down with Courtney Burns, the president and CEO of the Greater Moncton Romeo Leblanc International Airport.
Her answers have been edited for length and clarity.
Q: What was the greatest challenge the Moncton airport faced in 2022?
I think in the first quarter of the year it really that we were still facing travel restrictions due to Covid-19, and didn’t have the approval from the federal government to have international flights. So, we didn’t have our sun charter program in 2022.
When we started the year, we were still at a depressed passenger level, with Covid restrictions in place; not having the full-service offerings that we liked to provide was our biggest challenge.
Getting ready to embrace the recovery, when it did begin in spring and summer, I would say was challenge number two.
It was kind of turning things back on, and once they started, the challenge was being ready so the airport was the best experience it could be for passengers, once they were able to travel again.
Q: What was 2022’s most exciting milestone?
The one that is most noteworthy for me was in September when we hit – and slightly surpassed – our passenger volumes compared to pre-Covid for the month. It was 100.5 percent of September 2019 that we achieved this year.
It was kind of creeping its way up toward 100 percent throughout the summer and we had a really strong summer, with a lot of pent-up demand, so it felt like an airport again. The flight board was full, we had planes coming and going, and the airport was bustling again.
Compare and contrast that to May 2020, when our numbers were at their very lowest, and it was refreshing to see travel back in play again.
Q: What was the biggest change in 2022?
It was in the summer when we had more airlines serving more destinations than we had pre-Covid. To have that variety for our passengers, so that when you walk into our departure area and you have all the airlines’ gates in front of you, seeing more airlines and brands available to our passengers.
To me, that was a big change compared to pre-Covid times. We partnered with Air Canada, WestJet, PAL Airlines, Porter, Swoop – all flying out of Moncton.
Q: What was important in the airline industry in 2022?
It was important to instill trust in the traveler as we were emerging from the pandemic.
I think back to the first quarter of the year, when travel restrictions were still very much in play here in New Brunswick. We would have been in red-alert phases at several different points in early 2022, so the biggest piece was to instill trust in the passenger that when you come to airports or are flying with our airline partners, that it’s a safe experience, in a clean environment, where you can feel safe traveling again and reuniting with your loved ones.
Q: What do you expect to see in the coming year?
We’re excited to see our sun charter flights back here in the Moncton airport. They are starting in the second week of February, and we’ll have 11 direct flights to Cuba, Florida, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica.
We’re excited because we hear sales are going really well, and I think everyone is looking forward to heading to a beach again – which is great.
What we’ll also see in 2023 is that our recovery continues on its trajectory. Winter can be softer for some airlines, but I think summer of 2023, we’ll see more new destinations and continue to see growth for the options of our partners out of Moncton.
We’re expecting recovery might hit as high as 90 percent of pre-Covid numbers, which is accelerated compared to what we were predicting a year ago – we thought we wouldn’t see that until 2024.