Flight delays and cancellations caused by a fierce arctic blast of winter weather continue to hinder the travel plans of many looking to fly out of Kelowna International Airport (YLW) on Thursday.
“We had up to eight cancellations this morning,” said YLW director Sam Samaddar.
“The rest of the day now looks pretty good. We’ve got delays, but we’re very hopeful that we’ll complete the balance of the schedule today.”
Since Sunday, there have been 117 cancelled flights at YLW, and with another winter storm expected to hammer many parts of the province, the airport says that number is expected to rise.
“The airlines may cancel some flights preemptively, just to not create a mess somewhere else or here,” expressed Samaddar.
“I’ll tell the travelling public to check with their airline to make sure that their flight’s going to operate.”
One woman and her husband were stranded at YLW on Thursday, after their flight to Winnipeg was cancelled. The couple says they’re starting to lose hope that they’ll be able to spend Christmas with their loved ones.
“We got an email saying that they cancelled our flight from Calgary to Winnipeg, so we thought we’ll come here and see what they could do, and they said don’t go to Calgary, there’s no flights going out,” said Kelowna resident, Theresa Bolton.
“Just trying to get home for the holidays, but not too optimistic that will happen.”
With much uncertainty surrounding air travel out of YLW, some stranded air travellers in Kelowna are renting vehicles at the airport and driving them to their destination, in a last-ditch attempt at making it home for the holidays. However, the province is strongly recommending people not travel between the B.C. Interior and the Lower Mainland through Saturday because of snow and freezing rain in the forecast.
Traffic advisories have been issued for the Lower Mainland, Southern Interior and Southern Vancouver Island. BC Ferries has also issued travel advisories.
Kelowna International Airport added that it’s expecting over 10,000 arriving and departing passengers on Friday. On average, the airport sees roughly 5,000 people per day.