(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)
June 16, 2016 - 1:04 PM
KAMLOOPS - After several months of steady increase through the gates of Fulton Field numbers dipped during May as a wildfire ripped through Northern Alberta.
The number of travellers using Kamloops Airport last month was down by more than 800, or 3.5 per cent, over May 2015.
A fall off in the Northern Alberta market due to a downturn in the oil and gas sector as well as the Fort McMurray wildfire are to blame for the lower numbers, airport managing director Fred Legace says in a media release.
Legace notes reconstruction demands following the wildfire will likely help increase numbers through the Kamloops Airport over the summer months as workers commute to the region.
While fewer travellers came through the gates this May the total number of travellers is still up year over year, with nearly 140,000 people using the airport so far this year, up from roughly 133,500 in the first five months of 2015.
The number of aircraft movements were also down in May and is not being attributed to anything in particular, Legace notes in the release.
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News from © iNFOnews, 2016