It’s the busiest time of year for airline travellers in Canada with more than 48,000 passengers expected to pass through Calgary International Airport (YYC) on Friday, Dec. 20, 2024.
The Calgary Airport Authority says, during this holiday season, 48,000 passengers per day are expected to pass through YYC — that’s 1.5 million passengers in total, including thousands of connecting passengers from other airports.
That’s 100,000 more passengers than during the holiday season last year.
Chris Miles of the Calgary Airport Authority has some advice to help avoid the lines and reduce travelling stress. “When you are coming to the airport we are still advising people to arrive a little earlier than normal, so two hours for domestic, three hours for international departures, allows you to get through the check in process and through security,” Miles said.
Some other travel tips include:
- using YYC’s online parking reservation system;
- booking your spot in the security line ahead of time by using the online reservation system YYC Express;
- downloading the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s mobile passport control app to help speed-up your trip through customs;
- downloading the ArriveCan app if you’re traveling abroad to help with declarations in advance; and,
- using YYC’s accessibility assistance if you need help navigating the terminal.
Concourse B is also closed as a result of the big hail storm that hit Calgary in August, but Miles says, “For the everyday traveller, they aren’t going to notice a difference — the rest of the concourses are open, all the retail is open and planes are flying as normal.”