It’s not only good news for the airport and its shops and services, but it also benefits Ottawa-based travellers hoping to see more flights arriving at and departing from the nation’s capital.
Traditionally, only four to six per cent of passengers arriving at the Macdonald-Cartier International Airport had outbound connections. Officials say that number now exceeds 10 per cent.
The increase is all the more significant when stacked against the almost 40-per-cent growth in the number of passengers over the past decade, which hit a high of 4.34 million travellers in 2008.
Airport officials concede Ottawa is unlikely to become a transit hub like Toronto or Montreal.
But the additional connecting passengers fill more seats on existing airline routes, helping those flights stay viable. They also make Ottawa more attractive for carriers considering new destinations or increasing the capacity of existing Ottawa routes with larger planes or greater flight frequency.
“As the economy recovers, we are going to see airlines expanding and growing,” says Michael Crockatt, the airport authority’s vice-president of business development and marketing.
“We’re reasonably confident some of those (expansion plans) will include Ottawa.”
Air Canada and Porter Airlines both increased the number of flights between Ottawa and Atlantic Canada in recent years. Meanwhile, United Airlines – which only began flying to Ottawa in the last five years – introduced a direct flight to Denver last summer, connecting Canada’s capital to the fifth-busiest airport in the United States.
But the most significant new flight is likely Air Canada’s Ottawa-Frankfurt run, launched in 2008.
The connection to Europe’s third-largest airport is already producing tangible results for the local tourism economy. German operator Studiosus started offering 10-day Ontario tours originating and ending in Ottawa last fall, meaning German tourists spent more time in the nation’s capital – and its hotels, restaurants and shops – than if the tour flew into Toronto.
A first for Ottawa, the package sold over 350 seats in September and October, according to Ottawa Tourism.
However, Mr. Crockatt says the number of passengers travelling solely between Ottawa and Frankfurt is relatively small compared to those transferring in one or both airports.
The Frankfurt airport is a major gateway to Africa and the Middle East, so the Ottawa airport has been promoting the connection in ethnic media, says Mr. Crockatt. However, he adds the airport generally tries to capture connecting passengers who would otherwise fly through Toronto or Montreal by offering a superior experience.
"We're reasonably confident some of those (expansion plans) will include Ottawa." - Michael Crockatt, vice-president of business development and marketing, Ottawa Airport Authority
For example, the Ottawa airport introduced free Wi-Fi Internet access last December, generating positive comments from travellers on the popular social networking site Twitter as approximately 4,500 Internet users logged on in the first week.
“If people have the choice to fly through another airport or take another mode of transportation, you need to give them a reason to fly through Ottawa,” says Krista Kealey, vice-president of communications and public affairs at the Ottawa Airport Authority. A traveller will have more reasons to fly through a city if it offers a large number of connections, so airport officials around the world are constantly meeting with airlines to push for new destinations and the preservation of existing routes.
Mr. Crockatt says airport authorities research passenger demand, consider an airline’s specific fleet and the size of the plane required.
Near the top of his wishlist is resumption of service between Ottawa and Atlanta, the world’s busiest airport by passenger volume.
Delta Air Lines scrapped the route in 2008, the same year Air Canada terminated its Ottawa-to-Hamilton service and Continental Airlines stopped flying between Ottawa and Cleveland.
While it’s obviously the carriers that make the final decision to add or remove routes, local airport officials make the case for why they should think about Ottawa as a destination. It’s a long-term process that involves building relationships over many years, sometimes with airlines that don’t even currently fly to Canada.
“Their awareness (of Ottawa) is growing,” says Ms. Kealey.
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ECONOMIC IMPACT OF INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS
Roughly 184 of paid work, including handling passengers, their bags, cargo and the aircraft, go into each departure of a long-haul international flight from Ottawa, according to a study published by the local airport authority.
This directly creates the equivalent of 92 full-time jobs, which pay an estimated $1.52 million in wages and salaries annually.
The overall impact on GDP in the National Capital Region climbs to $6.52 million when indirect and induced multiplier effects are included.
