Passenger traffic at Plattsburgh airport jumped by 68 per cent last year and more than 80 per cent of all fliers were from the Montreal region, says the man in charge of marketing the airport.

Garry Douglas, president of the Plattsburgh-North Country Chamber of Commerce, tells ctvmontreal.ca that nearly 73,777 people flew in and out of the facility that's branded as "Montreal's U.S. Airport."

Flying out of Plattsburgh might soon become even more enticing in May when US Airways begins regular flights to Boston, Douglas said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

"Competition is good for business," said Douglas. "Montreal may well be the last major metropolitan city in North America that doesn't have a ring of secondary airports around."

No contest

Plattsburgh airport opened its doors in 2007 to take advantage of high taxes and ticket prices that have frustrated Montreal air travelers for years.

U.S. discount carriers fly out of Plattsburgh to Florida and other sunshine destinations for fares that are a third, or even a half, lower than the fares out of Trudeau airport.

The free parking and short lineups at Plattsburgh are simply a bonus.

Big plans

Douglas says that expansion is on the horizon, including a bigger terminal with a U.S. Customs area that will open the door to international flights to Europe, the Caribbean and Mexico.

Some additional domestic flights are also in the works to places such as New York, Philadelphia and Washington D.C.

Complaints

Trudeau airport officials have already acknowledged that they can't compete with the lower-tax environment in which Plattsburgh airport operates.

The Hotel Association of Canada has also complained that their business suffers when travelers flock south to fly south.

But Douglas says that undercutting Trudeau airport is not in his plans.

The Montreal gateway handles 12 million passengers a year, numbers that dwarf those of Plattsburgh. Douglas says his goal is to lure Montrealers away from a major rival in Vermont.

"We're not in competition with Trudeau, we're in competition with Burlington," he says.

"That's the real competitive environment -- who is going to be the dominant U.S. airport serving Quebec?"