Kelowna airport fully prepared for record snow day

While you were brushing the snow off your car Thursday morning, crews at the Kelowna airport were brushing snow off planes so travelers can reach their destination.

On major snow days, flight cancellations and delays are common. Keeping up with the heavy holiday traffic takes a coordinated effort with crews in the communications tower working with those on the ground.

“If we look at our winter operations crews, for example, they’re doing a tremendous job. They’ve actually been here 24 hours, continuing to operate around the clock to make sure runway conditions and the associated taxiways and aprons are in good condition,” airport director Sam Samaddar said.

Crews focus their attention particularly on the runway, Samaddar noted.

“It’s critical. The number-one priority that we have at the airport is to make sure we keep that runway open,” he said.

Operations manager Sean Parker says the ground crews don’t get the credit they deserve for keeping the airport winter-ready.

“I don’t think a lot of people understand the amount of effort that it takes to keep a facility like this operational,” Parker said.

Thursday’s efforts paid off — despite a handful of delays, mostly due to de-icing, there were only two cancellations that had nothing to do with airport operations.