YVR promises improvements after December snowstorm chaos

Vancouver International Airport let passengers down last Christmas, YVR president and CEO Tamara Vrooman said on Monday as she released steps the airport has taken to mitigate the risk of December’s holiday horror happening again.

Those steps include upgraded weather forecast abilities, more staff in the lounges to help and communicate with stranded passengers, digitalized and centralized luggage tracking, and “hot” gates that will be kept open to handle backlogs such as those that occurred in December when many passengers sat on the tarmac for hours.

“Running an airport is a trust business, and you can’t even rely on us to do what you expect us to do?” she said.

“Whether it’s how early you have to arrive at the airport, how long you have to wait for your flight, whether you’re able to take off in time, whether your bag will be delivered, all of these things are geared toward ensuring that trust bond continues to be strengthened, even as we go through a series of quite historic weather and labour changes as a result of the pandemic.”