Kamloops Airport Ltd. announces the passenger and aircraft movement results for August 2006 and an update on airport operations.

In July, 13,484 people used Kamloops Airport in their travel plans. This is an increase of 2,709 travelers (25%) over August 2005 when 10,775 people used Kamloops Airport. This continues a double-digit trend of increases that began in May of this year. The robust local economy is bringing more visitors to our community. Through the month of August, Kamloops benefited from seat sales that reduced the cost of travel and encouraged more people to “take the plane” versus driving. According to fare monitoring conducted by Kamloops Airport Ltd., the cost difference between flying from Kelowna versus flying from Kamloops has been dropping and is now less than $45.00 for most flights.

In July, 4,076 aircraft used Kamloops Airport, which is about 39% below August 2005 when 5,684 aircraft were reported. Traffic in the Local Flights category fell off dramatically though. The drop in this category is related to a reduction in flight training as the flight school concentrated on more classroom work for their students. The IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) category held steady and the VFR (Visual Flight Rules) category increased by 9%.

For the month of August there were no reported delays of scheduled passenger flights due to Kamloops weather out of more than 220 flights that regularly operate. This gave Kamloops Airport a reliability factor of 100% for the month.

Kamloops Airport Ltd. (KAL) is a subsidiary of Vancouver Airport Services. Our mission is to serve the Kamloops community and trading area of the BC Interior by providing airport facilities that are safe, clean, efficient, profitable, friendly and that reflect a local sense of place.

For more information, please contact Lee Morris, CEO at lee@tourismkamloops.com or by phone (250) 372-8000.