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New departures lounge open at Waterloo International Airport

From left to right: Stephen Jones, CEO of Flair Airlines, Regional Chair Karen Redman, Chris Wood, general manager of Waterloo International Airport and MP Tim Louis cut the ceremonial ribbon. Waterloo Region

The new departures lounge at Waterloo International Airport officially opened on Tuesday as the ongoing expansion at the airport continues to take shape.

Waterloo Region says the expanded 20,000-square-foot lounge includes seats for 500 people and more space to allow visitors to relax while waiting to board.

Another phase of the expansion began this month as the terminal building is reconfigured in a move that will add self-service kiosks and common-use airline counters with a third security line planned to speed up screening.

In addition, a new baggage system will be added that will feature self-service drop-off and an expanded sorting area.

These changes will be completed by next spring.

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It will cost taxpayers $30 million to complete the airport upgrades as part of the region’s 20-year master plan for the facility.

The quickly growing airport will see a half million travellers arrive and depart through its runways this year.

“Since this expansion plan was put in place in 2017, our airport has undergone impressive growth – not just in size and number of passengers – but in overall jobs and economic impact as well,” Regional Chair Karen Redman stated.

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