Atlantic Canada has experienced tremendous growth in its air services over the last few years, with growing demand from North America, Europe, and beyond.
Canada’s east coast provinces – Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island – provide a straightforward and convenient path to Europe and across the Americas.
Located directly on the great circle route, we provide the closest access point in North America to Continental Europe. The region’s unique experiences, seaside cities, naturally wild beauty and laid-back vibe appeals to the European traveller. Air carriers have taken notice with capacity to the region increasing 14 percent over the last five years.
Tourism and travel is a major industry here, attracting more than 5 million visitors annually. We’re a vibrant coastal region with beautiful white sand beaches, world class golf courses, scenic coastal drives and unique urban centres.
The region consists of 150,000 miles of beautiful coastlines that are dotted with communities where fishing was once the main occupation.
While other industries such as oil and gas, hydroelectricity, shipbuilding and mining are now key drivers of the economy, the fishing industry continues to be a strong contributor.
Atlantic Canada’s Gateway airports are also a fast, reliable and cost-effective option for air cargo between North America and the rest of the world. Developing markets for air cargo include Europe, the U.S. and Asia, in particular for time-sensitive products like seafood, especially our world-famous lobster.
In 2018 alone, over $200m worth of fresh live lobster was exported from Atlantic Canada’s shores. The abundance of natural wildlife and fresh seafood makes the region a food lover’s paradise. Our location, combined with our natural resources, has resulted in numerous growth opportunities for our airports.
Region’s Opportunities
Atlantic Canada is a prime market for further air service development. The Mid-Atlantic and Pacific States and the United Kingdom present good opportunities to grow air access.
The Atlantic Canada economy has been stable during times of economic uncertainty globally. This year there are 478 major capital projects underway in the region valued at $152 billion. The healthy economy translates to higher household incomes and a higher propensity to travel for the 2.3 million residents. This is good news for air carriers, as a growing business community translates into more air travel.
Tourism and travel is a major industry in Atlantic Canada with the region attracting over 5 million tourists annually. In addition to tourism, our region has a vibrant business and professional services community and an emerging energy sector including hydro and oil and gas.
Given our geographic location which is close to Europe and directly on the great circle route our airports also carry the region’s air cargo. Both Moncton and Halifax are designated as International Air Cargo Trans-shipment Centres, which allows Canadian and foreign carriers to carry international cargo trans-shipments to and from points outside Canada even though the rights are not provided in Canada's bilateral air transport agreements.