“Domino effect” travelers expect the best of Edmonton during their vacation trips

Edmonton travelers are hoping to get to their holiday destinations on time as the storm closes roads and ground flights across the country.

A major storm in Ontario and Quebec, a turbulent winter mix in BC, extreme cold in parts of the West and heavy rain and high winds in Atlantic Canada are affecting travel, power outages and road accidents.

Steve Maybee, Edmonton International Airport’s vice president of operations, infrastructure and communications, said the EIA is fully functional, but planes aren’t arriving from hard-to-reach places like Toronto and Vancouver.

“What we thought would be a very busy day here at the airport is not so busy,” Maybee told the CBC on Friday.

“There’s no problem here at Edmonton International Airport, but the planes aren’t here. So it’s a domino effect.”

May said that the airport plans every year before the holiday season and shares the expected number of passengers with all partners.

As of Friday afternoon, 32 departures from EIA have been delayed or canceled.

Edmonton traveler Panmeet Kaur is flying to Delhi, India, via a connection in Montreal. He has been planning the trip for a year.

“I was a bit scared that I might not go as my flight was canceled two days ago,” said Kaur. His flight out of Edmonton on Friday was delayed about an hour, but he was ready to take off.

“It’s two days late but it’s okay, I’m happy,” he said.

Devanshi Bhatt, who was heading to Vancouver first, hoped her flight would not be canceled or delayed.

She hopes to fly to Los Angeles with her family for a cruise to Mexico.

“We’ve checked constantly and it’s said in time, but like, we never know,” Bhatt said.

His friends canceled other flights on Friday morning.

“We hope for the best.”