EDMONTON – As Christmas day fast approaches, Edmonton International Airport is in the midst of its busiest travel day of the year.
"Today is likely the busiest day for this entire season,” stresses Traci Bednard, spokesperson for the Edmonton International Airport (EIA). “Sunday will be busy as well, but this is expected to be the busiest day.”
The EIA will see roughly 23,000 people fly in and out on December 21.
“That’s about 30 per cent more than we would see on an average day, and those are just the travelers. At this time of year there are many more that are here meeting and greeting family,” adds Bednard.
The EIA just completed work on a new terminal, which Bednard says helps handle busy days like this, and also makes the experience more enjoyable for passengers and their families.
“We have a brand new terminal building, so we do now have the space to be able to handle these kinds of days when we see the volume increase so significantly,” she says.
“There’s lots to do here at the airport now. We have 25 different restaurants, 36 shops, lots of kids programming and Christmas kinds of things to do.”
To that end, Bednard advises those travelling during the holiday season to arrive early, and give themselves lots of extra time to reduce stress.
“You can do some things at home that are going to save you time here. You can always check online for your flight status, so that's flyeia.com. You can also print your boarding pass so check in ahead of time before you get in here. And just know what you can take through security. It’s a busy time so people are often bringing through things that they've just forgotten about,” she explains.
The EIA asks that holiday travelers not try to bring wrapped presents through security, since agents may need to unwrap gifts to check inside packages.
“We've worked with cadets and they're after security, and they will wrap your gifts for free once you get through security,” she offers.
The busiest times of the day for airport travel are morning, noon and evening.
“The early morning is the peak, so starting at about 4:30 am because there are so many U.S. flights that go out at about 5:30 am, 6, 7, so that's a real peak. Midday there's another peak, and then into the evening there's another peak again. So, it really goes up and down and three waves throughout the day.”
Even if travelers give themselves extra time, check their carry-on luggage carefully, and print their boarding pass ahead of time, there is one aspect of travel that neither the passengers nor the airport can control.
“Every year at this time, we really closely watch the weather because as much planning as we do, that can be the one issue that really creates problems for travelers.”
Winter weather conditions in parts of central Canada could cause major delays for thousands of people traveling to their holiday destination.
Toronto’s Pearson Airport is expected to see 105,000 travelers come through Friday alone. An estimated two million people will pass through Pearson over the holiday season.
With files from Erin Chalmers
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