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Kelowna  

New highs at YLW

Kelowna International Airport is the fastest growing airport in Canada, according to preliminary numbers from YLW.  

"We will be over the 1.9 million passenger mark which is a ten percent increase (over 2016)," said Airport Manager Sam Samaddar. "In terms of class one and class two airports, we are leading the way in the country."

The increase is attributed to additional ski tourism during the winter months with the addition of three daily flights from Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney Australia to Vancouver. 

"You're seeing a lot of those visitors destined for the Okanagan so that's been tremendous," said Samaddar.


Toronto has been a big boost for summer tourism. "This summer we had a thousand seats a day with three direct flights to and from Toronto, with a fourth flight to be added in June, so that has been a tremendous lift in capacity."  

Overall Kelowna is the 11th busiest airport in the country, in comparison, Canada's busiest airport Pearson International in Toronto handles about 45-million passengers annually.



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