THUNDER BAY -- On the heels of a record-breaking year for passenger volume in 2017, the Thunder Bay International Airport has started 2017 with yet another record.
About 63,000 people moved through the terminal last month, shattering the all-time mark for passenger volume in January by more than seven per cent.
Airport CEO Ed Schmidtke had predicted a strong performance for 2017, but was still caught off-guard by how busy the airport was last month.
"We’re quite surprised by that number," he said. "We get excited every time we see growth of over two per cent so when we see January start at seven per cent, that’s a big number for us.”
Schmidtke added the plan to expand the marketing of the airport to American travellers through social media may be having an effect already.
Inquiries from U.S. travellers are currently tracking slightly ahead of last year’s observed numbers at this time.
