Courtesy GMIAA
The plan for 2022 at the Greater Moncton Roméo LeBlanc International Airport is to return to the number of flights and passengers it had in 2019 prior to the pandemic.
CEO Bernard LeBlanc says it’s a challenging year to forecast since Ottawa has yet to approve international passenger traffic for the airport.
“We’ve worked very closely with our board of directors on our budget which is the plan for the year but it could change because our revenues are really dependent on passengers.”
LeBlanc says 2021 was a great year for cargo and federal funding was able to help stabilize the airport’s operations during the volatile year.
“Part of the recovery is getting the airlines back but it’s essential to have the passengers. We’re not looking to grow at this point, we’re just trying to get back to where we were in 2019.”
The airport is striving for more than 350,000 passengers this year compared to over 182,000 passengers in 2021.
In the long-term, LeBlanc says the airport wants to grow revenues through parking operations and recruiting new vendors to expand concessions and food options.
Meantime, a search is underway to find a replacement for LeBlanc who announced he is retiring as CEO in the spring.
