The Kamloops Airport was busy on Thursday with holiday travellers coming and going (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen

HOLIDAY TRAVEL

Steady Christmas Eve travel amid record-low year at Kamloops Airport

Dec 24, 2020 | 12:43 PM

KAMLOOPS — Travel since COVD-19 has been restricted and numbers at the Kamloops Airport have reflected that this year with record-low passengers. However, the airport, always busy around the holidays, was steady on Christmas Eve.

There were four flights coming in and out of Fulton Field on Thursday. People going away to see family for christmas, while others were coming home for the holidays.

“There’s quite a few less flights than we would normally see this time of year, but the capacity is higher than we’ve been seeing since COVID started,” said airport operations manager Ed Ratuski. “Both airlines have added flights up to and through the Christmas break to take care of some of that demand. Generally, it is a lot lower than what we were seeing in a normal year.”

The Kamloops Airport has seen 80 per cent decreases in numbers during portions of 2020. There have been only 120,000 passengers, compared to 350,000 at this time last year, which was a record season at YKA.

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“Pretty difficult for everyone in the aviation industry, but we’ve met the challenges. We’ve had to make some pretty drastic measures throughout the year in terms of staff reductions and just cutting back, but generally the remaining team really pulled together, with our airline partners, to meet the demand that’s there,” said Ratuski.

Ratuski says the numbers for the first quarter of 2021 will likely remain low, but as more people are vaccinated, he hopes some of the travel restrictions will be loosened come summer.