Although flights to Calgary from Red Deer are only a few months old, the Red Deer Airport is already seeing a dramatic rise in passengers.
In a presentation to Red Deer city council scheduled for Monday, airport officials say they have seen a 513 per cent increase in scheduled passengers.
In 2012, they had 1,468 passengers and this year they estimate 11,000 scheduled passengers.
According to the presentation, they estimate further growth in 2014 with a predicted 35,000 scheduled passengers.
The growth of the airport has also meant job creation — the report says there were 23 jobs created in total. Four in security, 10 through the increased Air Canada service and nine because of Northwestern Air’s flights to Kelowna/Abbotsford and Fort McMurray.