Charlottetown, PEI – Passenger traffic through Charlottetown Airport increased 6.4 percent in the first quarter of 2009 compared to the same period in 2008. The Charlottetown Airport Authority reports that a total of 48,089 passengers enplaned and deplaned at the airport this year through to the end of March.

"We are very pleased with the increase in passenger traffic this first quarter,” said Doug Newson, CEO of the Authority. “We expected the year to be a challenge and some of our regional counterparts are already experiencing a downturn in demand."

Newson attributed the first quarter growth to passenger demand on the new direct flight to Ottawa. Without that extra capacity, Newson said that overall traffic would have been fairly steady or slightly down on a year over year basis.

Looking at the remainder of the year, Newson said that he is cautiously optimistic that overall traffic will be on par with 2008. According to Newson, air carrier capacity is similar to last year, but the global economic slowdown is a wild card and no one knows for sure what impact the recession will have on air travel this summer season.

"We have confirmed that all our seasonal carriers are returning and the meetings and conventions travel to PEI this year is expected to be strong", said Newson. "The Canada Summer Games should also provide a minor boost to traffic so we are hopeful that all of these factors will help to offset the soft demand that many are expecting from the long and medium haul leisure markets."