Council’s Airport Sub-Committee will meet Thursday to receive the 2021 annual report from the operator of Hamilton’s John C Munro Airport.

It is expected much of the discussion will focus upon post-COVID recovery of passenger flights.

Airport land lessee and operator Tradeport is reporting an increase in its revenue-over-expenses for 2021 as it decreased its spending last year. Revenues remain down by over 20 percent compared to 2019 as COVID regulations decrease passenger flights.

Passenger traffic at John C. Munro Airport was one-third of 2019 levels with 250,019 passengers flying to/from the airport in 2021. There were 955,373 passengers in 2019.

International flights to sun destinations resumed on November 30, 2021.

The airport and City plan to spend approximately $275,000 on marketing the airport’s passenger services from April to November this year.

The City contribution will be $100,000.

The airport’s success as a cargo hub continues with total cargo aircraft billable weight up 44 percent compared to 2019. 766,394 tons of cargo is reported for 2021.

Cargo movements significantly increased in November and December, with the airport reporting these two months in 2021 were 30% above 2020. The annual weight increase for the twelve months of 2021 compared to 2020 was 16 percent.

Vancouver was the top cargo route for Hamilton’s airport in 2021 with 1,481 movements last year.

DHL Express opened its new $110-million International Gateway Facility at the airport on September 28, it is DHL’s largest gateway in Canada by volume.

The new 855,000 square foot Amazon Fulfillment Centre opened in January 2022.

Part of the meeting will be conducted in a closed session as Council continues to renegotiate its lease of the airport property to Tradeport.

Council members on the committee are Eisenberger (Mayor), Powers (Ward 5), Pauls (W7), Danko (W8), Pearson (10), Johnson (11), Ferguson (12), Whitehead (14), and Partridge (15).

The full agenda for the meeting can be read here.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 9:30 am Thursday and can be viewed live on the City of Hamilton’s YouTube page.