The rapid expansion of Waterloo International Airport continued on Thursday as a new outbound baggage system officially opened.
“I am excited to be celebrating another milestone in this important expansion project,” said regional chair Karen Redman.
“As one of the fastest growing airports in Canada, YKF continues to be an economic driver for our community. Each new destination improves connectivity for residents and local businesses.”
YKF is the code for the airport.
Previously, Redman has noted that the airport was the sixth busiest in Canada in 2021, having served 171,828 travellers that year, up 245 per cent from 2019.
The region says the new baggage system will provide a better customer experience as it will add self-service kiosks and common-use airline counters, another security line as well as the new baggage system.
That new baggage system will include a dual self-service bag drop, oversize baggage line, in-line security functionality and expanded sort area to streamline baggage handling.
This new system will replace an outdated baggage area which was not designed for the number of people arriving on the Boeing 737s used by Flair, Sunwing and WestJet.
The next step in the airport expansion will see a rejigging of the space used by the Canada Border Services Agency.
A new parking lot was also being worked on in the spring with shuttle service set to arrive there in September while it was also recently announced that new fire safety vehicles were on their way as well.
In addition, a new domestic arrivals building opened at the airport in April 2022 which completed the first phase of expansion.