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Christmas Travel

Busiest holiday travel days saw thousands come through Kamloops Airport

Dec 24, 2019 | 1:47 PM

KAMLOOPS — The last few Christmas travellers were hopping on planes today (Dec. 24) en route to see family and friends.

According to Kamloops Airport Manager Ed Ratuski, most people have already arrived at their holiday destinations.

“We usually see that when Christmas is mid-week,” Ratuski said. “People take advantage of the early travel, get the extra weekend in. Tomorrow there will be hardly any passengers flying. It will be pretty light.”

It was a different story last week.

“Probably the busiest day was Friday and then Saturday, when school was out and travellers started heading out for the holidays, and also the inbound vacationers, either for Sun Peaks or friends and family travel.”

Ratuski estimates between 1,200 and 1,500 passengers came through the terminal each of the busiest days.

Passenger traffic is expected to pick up in the new year.

“And then we get into the busy ski season,” Ratuski said, “with a lot of international passengers flying in to (go to) Sun Peaks. That’s usually our peak months. It starts with Christmas into January and February for the peak ski seasons.”

Until then, the airport is expecting a slower pace, and hoping for a safe holiday season.