International travel could be for vaccinated people only.
That's the word at the Kelowna International Airport, which is showing new life now that travel has opened up in BC.
For people travelling within Canada, there aren't a lot of surprises coming according to the Senior Manager at YLW.
"You're going to recognize right away that masks are still required, there are health checks that are required before you board an aircraft," said Phillip Elchitz.
It's international travel, where it's expected that big changes are coming.
"The signals that we're getting from government and worldwide is that there's going to be some kind of digital health passport," he said.
That digital passport is expected to contain the vaccination status of passengers and whether they've ever been infected with COVID-19.
"And that will be used for entry requirement for international travel to other countries," said Elchitz.
The other expectation is that the limited COVID testing that's available for some travellers at the Kelowna Airport will be expanded to handle all international travellers.
"We believe that all international travellers for the foreseeable future, six months to a year, are going to require a negative COVID test prior to travel."
There's some good news for the flying public, as the number of direct destinations will be almost doubling to include places like Montreal, Hamilton and Winnipeg.
Still, the "return to normal" is expected to come slowly.
The airport expects passenger loads to get back to 80 or 85 % of pre-COVID numbers by the end of next year.
It's not until 2024 or 2025 that they expect to start setting new records.
If you get value from KelownaNow and believe local independent media is important to our community we ask that you please consider subscribing to our daily newsletter.
If you appreciate what we do, we ask that you consider supporting our local independent news platform.
