Passengers, more cargo continue to be the theme at Hamilton International Airport
http://www.thespec.com/news/business...tional-airport
Despite a slight decrease in profit, the John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport paid $217,000 in rent to the City of Hamilton in 2010 – a 22 per cent increase from the year before.
In its 2010 annual report released Friday, the company reported a net profit of $2.38 million, down 7 per cent from $2.56 million in 2009.
The company’s report this year told the same story that it did in 2009. It is still recovering from the recession along with its airline partners, continuing to see a decline in the number of passengers and seeing an increase in cargo activity. Just like last year, Richard Koroscil, president and CEO of the airport, says he remains “cautiously optimistic.”
The city-owned airport is privately operated by Hamilton International Airport Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tradeport International Corporation. The city entered the public-private partnership for a term of 40 years in 1996.
Since then, Hamilton has been able to avoid the $1 million a year in losses that it experienced when it operated the airport. Instead, it now gets about $1.1 million in property taxes from businesses that operate within the airport.
The total number of passengers in 2010 was 387,831 – down 10 per cent from 431,251 in 2009.
Koroscil explained that the passenger drop was primarily because of reduced flights offered by WestJet, as well as the 2009 bankruptcy of Flyglobespan, a UK charter that offered seasonal flights between Hamilton and Britain.
Despite the drop in passenger volume, Koroscil said he wants Hamilton’s airport “to be the second-largest passenger airport in Ontario,” next to Toronto’s Pearson International Airport.
The airport’s cargo activity fared significantly better with an increase in 12 per cent from 2009 to 2010. In 2010, 417 million tons were flown through the airport.
The total number of landings that generated revenue was also up by 13 per cent. Last year saw 12,984 landings which does not include touch-and-go landings.
The increase in cargo revenue came about as the automotive and manufacturing industries started to see economic growth after the recession. As well, there was an increase in volume from existing cargo fliers like DHL, Canada Post and UPS.
The airport also benefited from ORNGE Air Ambulance moving its base to the Hamilton International Airport. Koroscil said the move brought 80 jobs to the Hamilton region.
So far in 2011 and looking forward, Cathie Puckering, the director of finance and corporate controller at Hamilton International Airport said, “We will expect a decline in passenger traffic this year for 2011, but cargo has continued to out-perform our expectations.”