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(ADAM PROSKIW / iNFOnews.ca)

The snow falling throughout much of B.C. is playing havoc with airline flight schedules, especially at Vancouver's airport where 25 centimetres of snow fell overnight and that's impacting flights in Kelowna and other Interior airports.

Fifteen flights out of Kelowna International Airport were either cancelled or delayed as of 9 a.m. today, Dec. 20. That’s out of 17 flights scheduled between 6 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Later flights are still showing as "on time" but that may change since it’s likely to be late afternoon before there’s word on whether Vancouver’s airport will reopen today.

YVR is totally shut down, which has a compounding effect on flights into Kelowna but also those that would normally carry on to other destinations such as Calgary or Edmonton.

“Operationally we can control a lot of things that we do on the ground here,” Kelowna airport director Sam Samaddar told iNFOnews.ca. “When you have an aircraft that transits between other cities and there’s potential weather in those cities, we can’t control that.”

READ MORE: Snowstorm over southern B.C. halts flights at Vancouver airport

Not that there haven’t been weather delays in Kelowna.

On the weekend there were delays caused by poor visibility at the Kelowna airport so about 8,000 passengers were delayed each day. That’s 4,000 inbound and 4,000 outbound.

Today is traditionally a lighter travel day so only about 7,000 passengers will be inconvenienced.

But, visibility this morning at Kelowna airport is marginal. Only one flight got out so far. That was an 8:55 a.m. flight to Edmonton.

Vancouver’s airport got 25 cm of snow overnight and another five to 10 cm are expected today, Samaddar said.

If it does reopen, more flights will be added today and tomorrow to try to catch up on the backlog.

The snow also contributes to flight delays simply because there is less time between when a plane is de-iced and when it takes off. If that take-off is delayed, it will have to be de-iced again.

In the meantime, the airport terminal in Kelowna is relatively quiet.

"The reason for that is the pre-emptive cancellation of flights,” Samaddar said. “People were advised last night that these flights were going to get cancelled this morning so it’s actually very calm.”

This is the busiest time of the year with Christmas travel with the peak days being Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

“I can understand people’s frustration,” Samaddar said. “It’s an emotionally charged time of year when you’re visiting family and friends and the anticipation of all of that but the paramount piece for all of us is safety.”

Kamloops had its two flights to Vancouver cancelled this morning but still shows later flights as being on time.

Penticton had its one flight to Vancouver at 10:20 a.m. cancelled. It’s next flight today isn’t until 3:15 p.m. to Calgary.

Check flight schedules for delays and cancellations before heading to the airport. Each airport posts flights or passengers can check with the airlines.

Kelowna flights can be checked here.

Go here to check Kamloops flights and here for Penticton.

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