Terrace airport officials wait for word from WestJet Encore

With WestJet expected to announce later this month the destinations of choice for its new WestJet Encore service, Terrace airport officials are still hopeful that their airport will be one of the names on the destination board by months end.

As we outlined on the blog last October, Over thirty communities made their submissions to West Jet last year in hopes of becoming a WestJet travel partner.

Representatives of both the Prince Rupert and Terrace Airports made the trip to Calgary to highlight the merits of their transportation hub, looking to add volume to their airports and provide travellers with yet another option in and out of the Northwest.

The Terrace Airport manager tells the Terrace Standard that he can't say much about that information session of last year owing to non-disclosure agreements, but he held out the hopeful thought that the airline hasn't said No.

Terrace officials are hoping that the increase in economic development in the Terrace-Kitimat area will help make the case to have their airport become a WestJet Encore destination.

The Terrace airport recently announced that Air Canada had expanded their schedule of flights for the spring adding to the volume of passengers that will depart and arrive in the community, last year the Terrace airport recorded a spike in passenger traffic with 139,193 passengers travelling through Terrace in 2012.

At last week's Prince Rupert Mayor Jack Mussallem provided the numbers from the Prince Rupert Airport Authority, which according to Mayor Mussallem (scroll down to the Mayor's report) saw 58,604 passengers use the airport in 2012 an increase of 2.14% over the year before.

Both airports in the region are served by Air Canada and Hawkair, though as can be seen by the passenger count, the Terrace airport sees more air movements and transits more passengers in and out through the course of the year.