Kelowna International Airport has been plagued by cancellations and delays because of heavy smoke from wildfires burning in B.C., but officials are more optimistic about conditions going into Monday.
“The smoke’s been here for a while now, but the last 48 hours have been the biggest challenge,” Sean Parker, Kelowna International Airport’s emergency operations manager said. “But today’s looking a lot better for visibility and the aircraft arriving and departing without any problems.”
“Honestly, I think this level of smoke is unheard of for this area.”
Approximately 30 flights were cancelled over a 24-hour period, Parker said. He estimated that would impact at least 1,000 people.
“It was a lot of shuffling for the airlines to get it caught up, and they handled it relatively well.”
Although pilots have plenty of technology available to them, they still need enough visibility to land, Parker said.
“You still need to have that visual contact with the ground to be able to do a safe operation,” Parker said.
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There should be about 800 metres of visibility, he added.
“That allows enough time for a pilot to make that decision on landing, and whether or not he’s going to have to go somewhere else.”
People largely understood the situation and airlines brought in extra staff to help out as passengers faced lengthy delays [on Sunday}, Parker said.
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