When Air Canada’s Boeing 737 Max 8 landed at Nanaimo Airport this week, it did more than deliver 168 passengers — it gave the facility’s managers something to boast about when chasing more business.
The airport had a camera crew on hand for still photos and a video of the 2:30 p.m. arrival on Monday.
“We are going to use it for promotional activities when we go to talk to airlines that use the Max 8 and do some of these North American long-haul flights,” Dave Devana, president and chief executive of the Nanaimo Airport Commission, said Thursday.
The Max 8 flew from Vancouver to Nanaimo, carrying a group of 90 students from Toronto, plus other passengers on a regularly scheduled flight.
Larger-capacity planes serving Nanaimo are typically Bombardier’s Q400, which seats about 78 passengers, and the Airbus 319, with capacity for 138, Devana said.
The narrow-bodied Max 8 broke a Nanaimo record with its ability to carry about 190 passengers, he said. “We’ve never had one fly in here before,” he said. “It proves our airport could receive a Max 8 on a more regular basis.”
That type of aircraft could provide direct flights to Toronto, Montreal or possibly Hawaii and Mexico, he said.
The Max 8 is a newer plane that is quieter than others, more fuel-efficient and more cost-effective for airlines, he said.
“There’s many good reasons why they might fly the Max 8, especially for our flights from Calgary or Toronto. So you never know — we might have more of these in the future.”
Direct flights to Toronto run through the summer using other aircraft.
If an airline chose to use a Max 8, it would be able to carry more passengers, making some longer routes more economical for the company, Devana said.
Nanaimo’s rapidly growing population, now more than 100,000, is another plus for any campaign to attract more airlines to the facility, he said. “They want to be in places that are growing.”
Nanaimo’s airport, like others, is focused on building back business after passenger numbers dropped during the pandemic.
In 2019, the airport saw a record high of 491,000 passengers. “We were the fastest-growing airport in B.C. over the past 10 years up to that point,” Devana said. Last year, it handled 334,000 passengers.
“We don’t expect to back to normal until — at the earliest — in 2024. But things have been picking up slowly.”
Work is being completed on a $14.2-million capital project that included repaving the airport’s entire runway and apron.
The airport commission’s new strategic plan covering 2023-2027 was recently approved by its board.
Key goals include reaching one million passengers by 2040 and minimizing environmental impacts and achieving net zero by 2030. Net zero refers to balancing the amount of greenhouse gases going into the atmosphere with the amount removed from the atmosphere.
The airport is focusing on strengthening its core business and diversifying its revenue base. It now relies on passenger fees but aims to expand revenue by promoting development on its land.
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