REGINA - The Regina Airport has recorded negative revenue for 2024.
Per their annual report, the airport spent $34.5 million in 2024, while cashing in $33.6 million. This makes up a roughly $900,000 loss for profit in 2024.
While those numbers may look concerning, James Bogusz, Regina Airport Authority (RAA) CEO, said the airport is very comfortable with its current financial situation.
"We’re incredibly healthy, paying our bills, and [paying off] meter to debt covenant ratios."
Bogusz pointed out that the earnings before interest, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for the airport assets, like their new runway, were around $9 million.
This means the fees the airport implements for planes landing are costing less, saving travellers money, Bogusz noted.
He also emphasized how Regina is 15 per cent cheaper to land a plane than their counterparts in Saskatoon.
Bogusz said the goal of the airport is to bring in more traffic while keeping the existing fee structure.
Foot traffic for the airport saw a large increase in 2024, with nearly 1.1 million passengers.
These numbers reflected what the airport saw pre-pandemic, as 2019 recorded close to 1.2 million passengers.
With the increased foot traffic, Regina Airport recorded over $15 million in passenger facility fees alone, jumping over $3 million from 2023.
Bogusz believes the airport has recovered from the pandemic but isn’t quite there regarding passengers
Softening demand
With the ongoing U.S.-Canada trade war, Bogusz has previously made comments about concerns regarding softening demand as people choose to vacation north of the border.
So far, the airport in the first three months of 2025 has recorded a higher number of passengers to and from the U.S. compared to 2024.
In 2025, nearly 24,000 travelled to and from the U.S between Jan. and March. During this same span in 2024, those numbers were roughly 14,500 passengers.
These numbers take into account flights from Las Vegas, Phoenix, Orlando, and Minneapolis.
Bogusz mentioned the airport didn’t have a direct daily flight to and from Minnesota last year until the end of April.
"I don’t want to paint a rose picture since we don’t have any comparable month-over-month data," he said.
Starting in May, Regina will add another U.S. destination with flights to and from Denver courtesy of United Airlines.
United recently made cuts and reduced flights to Canadian destinations, including cancelling a new planned route between Toronto and Los Angeles.
Bogusz referenced softening demand as a concern, but ensured United is committed to coming to Regina.
He also noted that the plane would only carry 50 passengers at once, making it "reasonable in size."
In response to Canadians choosing to travel domestically, WestJet announced on Tuesday new weekly summer flights from Regina to Halifax.
Bogusz couldn’t say how much the flight would impact Regina’s economy but stressed the importance of connectivity
"The big play [with this] is the connection to Europe, so whether it be to [London, Dublin, Amsterdam, we] are now one stop away."
The new route will start on June 28th and last until September.
During the RAA’s annual meeting, Bogusz also mentioned continuing to work with Porter Airlines to get more flights into Regina.
He recently hinted at trying to bring in an Ottawa flight, potentially for the summer.
