Sask. airports expect a busy long weekend filled with travel

It’s the final weekend for Saskatchewan families to get all their summer traveling in before kids head back to school.

With that, the land of the living skies is expected to be very busy in the air.

The Saskatoon Airport is anticipating 4,200 passengers a day this long weekend, with Regina expecting 4,000 a day.

Justin Reves, Regina Airport Authority’s Director of Commercial, Passenger and Public Relations said this is a busy long weekend, but other long weekends are busier.

“I would say September long isn’t the busiest of travel weekends,” said Reves. “But typically all long weekends are busy, so (the) July long weekend kicking off summer is usually one of the busiest times of the year.”

Travel is expected to pick up by Friday with Sunday being a peak time.

“We expect a lot of people arriving home on the long weekend heading into it and getting ready for school,” said Reves. “We expect arriving traffic to be especially busy towards the end of the weekend.”

Reves said those heading to the airport this weekend can expect it to be business as usual.

“Security lines can be busy at times and other times still be quiet,” said Reves. “It might be 20 per cent busier than normal but the staff will adjust.”

Travelers are asked to show up around two hours before their flight is scheduled to take off.

“Being two hours prior is just going to mean you got no stress coming in,” said Reves. “There’s no reason to stress yourself out by trying to save 30 or 45 minutes when you’re heading out to travel.”

Reves said that the earlier indications in August suggest that the airport will be around its pre-pandemic levels of travel. 

That’s something the Saskatoon airport is also seeing, said Stephen Maybury, President and CEO of the Saskatoon Airport Authority.

“If we look at the last month we’re well above the recovery, (we’re) somewhere in the 111 percent range,” said Maybury. “So 11 per cent higher, on an annual basis .. we’re approximately 94 percent recovered.”

Maybury said the travel peak for the Labour Day Long weekend will be fairly standard for the Saskatoon Airport.

“This is such good news for the province (and) quite frankly the airport,” said Maybury. “We’re seeing passenger demand and seat capacity that’s both at around 94 percent recovered.”

Saskatoon’s airport is seeing pre-pandemic levels of travel according to Stephen Maybury, President and CEO of the Saskatoon Airport Authority. (650 CKOM/File photo)

Maybury said when preparing for a busy travel weekend as a passenger it’s essential to have all the planning done in advance.

That includes having the airline’s app, checking security wait times on the airport’s website and even booking parking online.

Maybury also doesn’t expect to see any implications from the earlier Westjet strike when it comes to traveling this weekend.