YYC Ready for Nearly One Million Guests Over the Holidays

Dec. 16, 2019
Dec. 20, is expected to be the busiest holiday travel day with an expected 50,000 guests in transit to reunite with friends and family or enjoy a local getaway.

YYC is ready for the holiday surge of nearly one million guests between Monday, Dec. 16 and Sunday, Jan. 5. That’s an average of over 47,000 guests per day, enough travelers to fill the stands of McMahon Stadium beyond capacity every day. We expect Friday, Dec. 20 to be the busiest holiday travel day with an expected 50,000 guests in transit to reunite with friends and family or enjoy a local getaway.

“We advise guests travelling through YYC to check with your airline before leaving and confirm travel times, arrive early and leave extra time to get to and through the airport. We’ve added security screening lines, expanded parking options and refreshed eating and shopping options. Earlier this month YYC and its airlines introduced a new centralized deicing program to help keep flights on schedule in cold weather. We’re always focused on making our guests’ experience better at YYC and these are just some of the ways we’re delivering this holiday season,” said Chris Miles, vice president operations, The Calgary Airport Authority.

In addition to our holiday travel tips, here’s how we’re making travel easier:

• Additional screening point: We’ve added a fifth security screening point at Concourse B, in partnership with the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA), for flights departing out of B gates during peak times, Sunday to Friday from 7-11 a.m.. Approximately 30 per cent more domestic guests can now be processed, improving efficiencies at Concourses A and C.

• Park @ YYC: We’re adding more options for drivers with new electric vehicle parking and charging stations and a new weekly parkade parking promotion for the closest and most convenient airport parking. Nearly 50 new and refreshed eat and shop options have landed or are on their way by end of 2020 for added convenience and more local variety.

• Centralizing deicing: YYC and its passenger airlines have launched new centralized deicing at two specialized aprons. By moving deicing of aircraft from gates to an apron it speeds up deicing of departing aircraft, helping airlines keep their schedules on time. The new pads also reduce the airport’s environmental footprint by increasing deicing fluid recycling through centralized operations and the largest airport use of CarbonCure technology in the world, which captured carbon in the new concrete pad construction. Click here for a link to b-roll of East Deice Apron.