Taking off at YLW just got faster.

Kelowna International Airport took the wraps off an expanded outbound baggage hall on Wednesday.

"It is really about the expansion of facilities as people check in their bags, and it's about ensuring that there is good connectivity of those bags," says airport director Sam Samaddar. 

"We have gone from about 450 bags an hour to almost 900 bags per hour." 

The $38-million project took 25 months and adds 36,323 square feet and 700 metres of conveyor belt to the airport operation. The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority contributed $4.6 million. 

"The outbound baggage hall is not just about the check-in process at the front end, but it's all the back end where we process the bags. The airlines then receive those bags and put them on the aircraft," says Samaddar. 

YLW has also increased space in the main check-in lobby to move passengers through faster.