Edmonton International Airport said 2024 was a year of growth and continued recovery, with passenger volumes returning to nearly the same level as before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
In 2024, YEG said it recorded 7.92 million passengers, reaching 97 per cent recovery from pre-pandemic passenger volumes and a 5.6 per cent increase over 2023.
In 2019, before the pandemic, YEG welcomed 8.15 million passengers. YEG said some of the return of passenger volumes can be attributed to more airlines choosing Edmonton.
Atlanta was added as a new non-stop destination and the airport announced new 2025 service to Chicago, Houston and Salt Lake City.
Trans-border passenger growth experienced a 28 per cent increase over 2023, while international traffic increased by 7.5 per cent and domestic travel remained steady with one per cent growth, the airport said in its 2024 recap.
Last year also saw the airport wrap up construction work to reconstruct the elevated departures area.
Here’s a summary from the airport of the major announcements and moves at YEG in 2024:
Spring
• WestJet’s inaugural flight to Atlanta
• WestJet began non-stop summer seasonal service to Nashville and San Francisco
• Porter Airlines, which began operating at YEG in 2023, added Montreal to its collection of non-stop destinations from YEG
• WestJet revealed its Edmonton winter 2024/2025 flight schedule, boosting its overall capacity by more than 20 per cent compared to winter 2023
Summer
• Air Canada continued to increase incremental capacity on key hubs to better serve the business community
Fall
• KLM’s four times weekly non-stop service to Amsterdam continued to be a popular route in 2024, the airport said, adding KLM announced it will grow to five times weekly service in summer 2025, as well as up to six times weekly in June 2025
• WestJet announced its largest summer schedule from Edmonton in the airline’s history by launching new US routes – Chicago and Salt Lake City – and significantly enhanced domestic routes, including Grande Prairie, Regina, Saskatoon and Kelowna. The summer 2025 schedule will be a 23 per cent increase over summer 2024.
• United Airlines announced its new non-stop service to Houston and Chicago. United now has three non-stop destinations from Edmonton, including its double daily service to Denver.
Winter
• Flair Airlines added increased frequency to Vancouver and Abbotsford from YEG.
Edmonton International Airport is Canada’s fifth-busiest airport by passenger traffic and the largest major Canadian airport by land area. YEG said it generates an economic output of over $4.9 billion and supports over 21,000 jobs.
YEG also operates the Villeneuve Airport (ZVL) northwest of the city, which it said continues to support general aviation, training and development opportunities and serviced more than 53,600 aircraft movements in 2024.
