Holiday season still not as busy at Regina airport

While the holidays are the busiest travel time of the year, COVID-19 has things moving a little differently this year.

Justin Reves, manager of customer experience for the Regina Airport Authority, said the week ahead and a couple of days after Christmas are normally the busiest, but the airport is still only seeing about half the traffic it did before the pandemic.

“(It’s) not as busy as it normally would be, but what you’re going to find is it’s rushes and clumps of flights either coming or going together that can make it feel very, very busy,” said Reves.

For those who are heading out, Reves said checking how many arrivals and departures there are when they’re leaving could be a good idea to see how busy it will be.

“And if you’re seeing extra flights there, you can give yourself a little bit more time,” said Reves.

The airport is still recommending people arrive about 90 minutes before their flight, but Reves said if it’s busier, then two hours could be a good idea.

For those keeping any Christmas presents in their carry-on luggage, Reves recommended not wrapping them ahead of time.

“Wait until you’re at least through security and then wrap it on the other side,” he explained.

That way if security needs to check the package, it doesn’t have to be unwrapped.

There are several travel restrictions around international travel due to COVID-19 and the Omicron variant. While the federal government recommends people don’t leave the country, if a traveller does, they’ll need to get a negative PCR test before coming back – even if they’ve been gone for less than 72 hours.

When international travellers arrive back in Canada, they could be chosen for an arrival test.

“This is a test that you just take home with you, you hop on Zoom with – Lifelabs is the company who does the test – and then you just wait at home until you get that negative test result, and then you’re welcome to continue on your way,” said Reves.

If a person isn’t selected for that test, there’s nothing else they need to do except monitor themselves for symptoms.

“(Testing staff) are starting at a smaller percentage and their plan is to get up to 100 per cent at some point,” said Reves.

While the departures tend to be clumped together as people go away for the holidays, Reves said they tend to be more spread out when returning home.