FILE PHOTO - Travellers queue at the Kelowna airport, Wednesday, July 28, 2021.

(HOWARD ALEXANDER / iNFOnews.ca)

The federal government announced today, Nov. 2, that international flights will be able to land at eight Canadian Airports as of Nov. 30, including Kelowna.

The ability to receive international passengers was taken away from all but a handful of Canadian airports during the height of the COVID lockdown last year.

It was restored to 10 airports earlier this year but Kelowna was excluded, despite being the 10th busiest airport in the country.

Airport manager Sam Samaddar told iNFOnews.ca last month that the window for winter international travel was quickly closing as major carriers, like WestJet, were setting their international flight schedules.

READ MORE: Time running out for Kelowna airport to get international status back

“The strict vaccine travel requirements that will be fully phased in by Nov. 30, and the pan-Canadian proof of vaccination credential now available for travel, are creating opportunities for safe travel for vaccinated Canadians,” states a Transport Canada news release issued today, Nov. 2.

Most carriers have cancelled flights to sun destinations for December and into next year because of the uncertainty of when international status was going to be restored, Airport Manager Sam Samaddar told iNFOnews.ca. It may take a few weeks before he knows what flights will be restored but he does know that Alaska Air will start flying direct from Kelowna to Seattle on Dec. 16

"Ski traffic, there’s a lot of marketing that happens in the Washington, for example, to bring skiers out of that market to Kelowna and having that Seattle flight will be very very important in bringing those people back into our marketplace," Samaddar said

For the sun destinations, Westjet is Kelowna's largest carrier. They now have to deal with the logistics of freeing up aircraft and crews that have been assigned elsewhere to see if they can route through Kelowna. And, they will need time for people to book flights so it's unclear right now whether the peak mid-December through New Years travel season will have those international flights, Samaddar said.,

"We are very very happy," he said "Going down this road, we thought we might have lost the whole winter."

In 2019, before COVID hit, more than two million passengers flew in and out of Kelowna International Airport. That number is likely to be less than one million this year.

 - This story was updated at 9:50 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov 2 to add comments by Airport Manager Sam Samaddar.

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