It was a busy day at the London International Airport on Friday as vacation-bound air passengers got a head start on March break.
Among the crowd were Danny Culhane and Paula Miziolek, who are travelling west to visit the latter’s son.
The two said they had no trouble making time pass in the days leading up March break.
“We’re both retired, so we’re always on holidays I guess,” Miziolek joked.
Friday also marked their first flight out of London.
“I was really amazed when I came through because you’re used to Toronto and you’re used to a million people,” Culhane.
“We came through really quick, people were friendly, people were nice, people were saying good morning to us. It’s great.”
The wait on Friday morning felt long for Kourtney Koenitzer and her son, but the mother says she was happy once she finally got to the airport before boarding their afternoon flight.
The two are flying west, where they plan to spend the March break skiing and enjoying nature.
“I haven’t travelled in many years, I haven’t been on a plane in many years, so I’m really, really excited,” Koenitzer said.
“(My son) flew earlier this year, so he’s becoming a frequent flyer.”
Friday brought a mix of excitement and relief for Suzanne Onn, who was travelling west with her son to meet with other family for a usual vacation getaway.
“We’re glad that the snow has held off enough that it doesn’t seem like there are going to be any cancellations,” Onn said, referencing a blast of blowing snow that came through London during the day.
“I’ve had several friends that travelled this week from Toronto and they had some cancellations and delays. My husband already left early from Toronto and he was fine, but I was just nervous about getting my son and I there. We’re happy things are going well.”
Things are going just as well for the London International Airport, thanks to a slew of new trips that were announced in recent months.
Gerry Vanderhoek, director of commercial and air services, says the airport has been slow to recover from the impacts of the pandemic, but flight activity will start climbing back to pre-pandemic levels as of March break.
“This summer, we’re going to see, in July and August, our record numbers that we had in 2019. We’re going to see over 75,000 passengers each month,” Vanderhoek said.
“The popularity of how this goes this summer is definitely going to decide on what the 2024 season is going to have next summer, but right now, their booking curve is ahead of what any of the airlines is expecting, so that’s pretty exciting from our end.”
Some of those upcoming flights include low-cost trips from Flair to Calgary, Halifax, Vancouver and Winnipeg, which will run several days a week, starting in June.
Daily Air Canada trips to Montreal will also start in June and Swoop will offer flights twice a week to Abbotsford, B.C., starting May 19, before ramping up service to four times a week starting June 25.
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