From the CBC today:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-b...port-1.6432836
Quote:
Airport president and CEO Sandy Ross says the surge in passenger traffic means the departure lounge has to grow, and fast.
"We're actually in the process now," he said in an interview Wednesday, noting the lounge will almost double in size to nearly 5,000 square feet from the current 3,000.
"We've only been able to seat about 140 people in that space up until recently," Ross said.
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Quote:
The expansion, which will allow the lounge to accommodate 300 people, will involve "moving into some dead space" that currently surrounds the area, reorienting ticket desks, and expanding the walls out on the entire departure area, Ross said.
Plans to add a dining area inside the departure lounge – which were ready to go but then shelved by the pandemic – are also "back on the table."
"We're just working out the details now with Transport Canada," Ross said. "It should be in place when we're done with construction ... literally on Day One."
Construction is set to begin in about a week and is expected to be completed in about 12 weeks, he said.
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Very quick turnaround. Will be interested to see how they re-arrange things and what the expansion footprint will look like. As it stands, the terminal is dated and pretty tight, having gone through smaller, piecemeal expansions over the years. Security screening currently takes up about 1/3 of the available space in the departures atrium, and I've always thought they would need to move security into a new space if they had any hope of fitting more people in there. Check-in area is in dire need of a re-work/expansion too. Shame they weren't able to have shovels in the ground pre-covid and take advantage of the lull in traffic to complete (as YFC did).
EDIT: the TJ had an article with a few more details, making it clear that the changes are being made within the current building footprint. So more of a large re-organizing of the current space - moving security, re-organizing checkin, building out the walls of the departure area, and the addition of food service inside the departure area.