By Cheryl Jahn

Travel challenges will continue

Jul 4, 2022 | 3:48 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – While travellers are moving through the Prince George Airport with ease today, the airlines were struggling through the long weekend and many delays were the result. But no one could have predicted the surge in demand for air travel from Canadians.

“We saw dramatic increases in capacity across the whole Canadian network,” says Gordon Duke, CEO of the Prince George Airport Authority. “Here in Prince George, we went from about 16,000 seats in May to 25,000 in June. That’s a big jump.”

Extrapolate those numbers to the larger airports, like Pearson International Airport in Toronto and the Vancouver International Airport, and the numbers are huge.

“From baggage handlers, pilots, flight attendants, security personnel. Even people who work in food and beverage at the airports. All of them were furloughed because the airlines were offering flights at two or three percent of what they normally do. And they did that for two years,” explains Claire Newell with Travel Best Bets.

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Duke says, what many people forget is that many of those individuals who were furloughed for two years are highly-skilled people and re-training is paramount to ensure safety in travel. And that doesn’t happen overnight. But it has an impact all the way down the line.

“With them struggling quite a bit with maintaining that operational technology, what we’re seeing here in Prince George is delays, some isolated cancellations. It does impact the whole system.”

Newell has some advice for the stalwart types who will continue to travel. Firstly, have carry-on luggage only. Handling baggage right now is a nightmare.

“If I had to check a bag, I would make sure it was tagged in three places. I would use the one in the baggage, I would tag in on the handle and put something inside in case the other two go awry, they can open it and have my contact information,” says Newell. “I would make sure that I double-checked the CATSA app to see what the security lineups were at the airport I was flying out of and I would make sure I had a backup plan to make sure that if things do go sideways I would have some sort of travel insurance that would protect me.”

She says the air travel woes will likely continue through July and August until things can be righted once again.