Busiest summer ever: St. John's airport logs record passenger numbers

St. John's International Airport is boasting about sky high traffic numbers in the summer of 2016, with a record number of passengers catching flights between May and September.

It was the busiest summer in its history, according to a news release Thursday from the airport authority, with 836,000 people going through the gates, nearly 200,000 in August alone.

The numbers are up 9.4 per cent over the same period in 2015.

The airport authority credits the rise to a strong tourism marketing campaign by the province, and the number of conventions being held in the city.

"The addition of new, direct flights to new destinations, in particular our new European services, also encouraged travel by locals," said Marie Manning, the airport's director of marketing and business development.

Manning said the airport is served by nine commercial airlines, with direct flights to 16 destinations, including three daily flights to Europe.

The news has not all been good for the airport.

Porter Airlines announced Oct. 3 that it is canceling flights out of St. John's between Jan. 4 and April 11, citing slow travel during the winter months, and a declining economy.